Raising a Fox
by The Pyroman
Summary: Naruto's worst beating yet happens on a night when the fox doesn't feel like cooperating. Anko finds Naruto just as things start to go bad, and neither of them expected the events to unravel because of it!
1. The rescue

"Oh so this is what you do when the poor Gaki's not looking." The young woman spoke up from the roof of a nearby roof, looking down at the group of people with weapons of all sorts. She didn't know at first why they were grouped up when that had chased a boy that had passed her not five minutes ago. When she had caught up to the group in question, she only had to look at the boy for a slip second before figuring out why they were after him. His body now was covered in his own blood and various bruises were scattered all over his body as he lay down half conscious in the center of a group of men and woman, all angry at him for the beast inside of him.

The group had taken a small step away from the boy as they had heard an unmistakable voice, one that filled with determination to protect the boy, as well as venom for the villagers who were attacking them this night. It wasn't an uncommon thing for the blond haired boy to be chased and beaten, but today was by far the worst of them. It wasn't just clenched fists and kicks, but weapons as well, mainly kunai and shuriken. Many people's grips on their weapons had tightened with fear as they looked up, seeing a large trench coat flapping in the wind gently. Her purple, spiky, pineapple-like hair was sitting atop her head as it usually did.

The group's eyes widened in fear as they fully recognized who was calling them out, and although they were afraid, some of them weren't going to show it. "We don't have business with you, Snake whore!" He spat out, rewarded with a piercing glare from the woman on the roof. "We just want the demon brat!"

She knew what it felt like to have the whole village against you, to have them hate you and treat you lower than dirt just because of association. It wasn't exactly the same case with the boy who had just been beaten senseless, but there were enough similarities between the two to make her go out of her way and stand up for him for the day. "The Name," She said fiercely, unleashing all of her killing intent towards the group that had attacked the boy. "is Anko. Mitarishi. You forget it, and I'll have my snakes come after you." Her usual cockyness wasn't there, and was replaced by sheer determination to make sure that they boy's life would get better in some way after this.

She knew his burden, his tenant, and she knew that his life was pretty bad for being known solely as 'the demon brat'. She didn't want for him to go insane like the others, and since he held the most powerful of all nine, the damage from such a rampage would be pretty devastating. The stupidity of the villagers had made them believe that the bay was simply the demon inside of him, and not his jailer. They all wanted revenge on him for one reason or another, but they fail to see that killing him will do absolutely nothing. The demon will regenerate in time and come back, punishing the village known as Konohagakure, or simply Konoha, for causing him so much trouble

As the silence had slowly passed, the villagers were becoming more and more scared of her. It was her specialty after all, and the was one of the best in the Torture and Interrogation department, surpassed only by Ibiki Morino, who almost treated Anko like a daughter when nobody is around. "W-we're not afraid of you, Snak-" The man's words were interrupted by a kunai lodging itself inside of his throat, his body flying to the side and laying dead as he came in contact with ground. Anko smirked and jumped up into the air, landing just in front of the Boy who she had been protecting. He was barely hanging onto life, but he was able to see everything going on around him. He couldn't move, much less speak, and simply lay there as the woman practically landed on top of him. The sudden landing had scared the villagers back a few more steps and her smirk had turned crazed.

"What did I just tell you all? I may not have used my snakes that time, but it doesn't mean I won't kill you." She said in her usual cocky attitude, walking slowly over to the man who she had just killed and ripped her kunai from his throat, turning to the villagers and licking the blood from it so that the throwing dagger was clean. She had certain methods to scare the villagers, and by far that was one of her favorites just by how badly it scared everyone. "Now you better get going before ANBU shows up and you all end up like that guy." She said, pointing to the dead man that she had killed only seconds before.

It didn't take long for the villagers to scatter from the alleyway, leaving just Anko, the boy, and the dead body. Her head snapped up to one of the darker shadows, and she narrowed her eyes, inspecting it closely. "Alright dog-face, Neko why don't you tell me why you didn't swoop in and save the Gaki? Hell, I bet he'd like to know just as much as me." The ANBU with the dog mask sweatdropped as his nickname was mentioned. It wasn't only Anko who used it, but also the boy when he would occasionally see him. The one in the cat mask was forced to hold back a giggle as they both appeared from the shadows in front of the woman and the now unconscious boy. 'Inu' had taken note of his current state and the pool of blood around him as well, his mask tilting downward to look at the boy, then back up to meet Anko's eyes.

"I'll tell you later, but you should get Naruto to the hospital. The fox doesn't seem to be cooperating this time." Inu spoke up, glancing at the boy once more to bring Anko's attention to him. Anko turned around and looked down at the boy, seeing the pool of blood surrounding him and going right through his clothes. _'damnit, I don't think he'll be happy about hearing his clothes are covered in his own blood.' _She thought to herself in a light tone, trying to lighten up the mood just a bit. Her head turned back to the two ANBU and nodded to them, silently telling them to meet at the hospital. In the case that they weren't looking or just didn't understand, she said it aloud. "I'll meet you at the hospital with the gaki, just get him a room and get the doctors ready." The two nodded and _shushined_ away, leaving a small trail of leaves where they once stood. Anko had a matter to take care of first before the hospital, and slowly picked up the unconscious boy in her arms. He couldn't be more than 6 at the time, since she had just quick thoughts in her head about when the Kibuuyi attacked. She was right, almost six years ago the demon fox had attacked, and was eventually sealed inside the boy in her arms.

She didn't really care if her trench coat got messy or not, since she had a complete closet filled with many more just like it. She jumped up into the air and landed on the roof once more, running at full speed to the Hokage tower.

* * *

The Hokage sat quietly at his desk as he dealt with his lifelong adversary, eternal rival, and opponent, paperwork. Even when he was younger and during his initial run as the Hokage, he hated having to do all of the paperwork that was required for the position. More than once he had asked how his processor, the Yondaime, had been able to do all of this work and still manage to have the time to live happily with his wife. The question baffled him, but all thoughts were halted as the doors were blown open with Anko holding the young, bleeding, and unconscious boy in her arms. His eyebrows narrowed as he took in the sight. It had been one of the very few times that Anko had actually looked concerned about someone that wasn't herself, and he only had to guess about what had happened.

"The villagers have attacked Naruto-Kun once more, it seems. It surely won't be the last, but it does seem different." Sarutobi, the Sandime Hokage spoke up, pausing from his late-night work and looking at the two of them. Anko nodded and glanced down at Naruto, who was in a state of deep sleep from the looks of it. "The fox isn't healing his wounds like usual, so I had Neko and Dog-Face go and get a room for him so the doctors could patch him up." Sarutobi sat there quietly for a moment and looked at Naruto, his surrogate grandson and the spitting image of the old Hokage's predecessor. He looked up at Anko who had still seemed to be worried about him. "Well, why are you here then? Having him here will do no good, Anko. We will speak once the hospital starts taking care of him." She knew that she couldn't say anything to make him talk to her now, so she simply complied with a nod and left the room, heading back outside in the dead of the night to the hospital which was only a short distance away.

* * *

Anko dashed out of the Hokage's tower and stayed on the ground this time rather than jumping onto the rooftops, weaving through the streets while keeping Naruto in her arms. She could feel his blood seeping through her jacket, but she didn't have any time to worry about it. She ran into the doors of the hospital where Inu and Neko were standing with a few doctors, some of them having a slight discomfort with having to patch up the 'demon child'. One of the doctors simply motioned for them to follow him and the other doctors into the room. As reluctant as they were about treating Naruto, the ANBU made sure that they would give their full attention to the boy and care for him until he returns to his usual state. They had simply told the doctors that "Anko would be happy to help them with getting more jobs for the hospital", silently telling them that she'd kill them all off if they didn't comply.

Reaching the operation room, one of the doctors took Naruto out or Anko's hand, much to her disliking. One of them even pushed her out of the room as soon as Naruto was in the other doctor's arms. The door to the room was shut in her face as all of the doctors scrambled into the room. She was mad that they weren't going to let her see the operation, but inside she knew that it was for the best. Sigh a small sigh, the Snake Mistress turned to the two ANBU and looked at them with as calm of a face as he could have at the moment. "Alright, now tell me why you didn't go in and save the Gaki as soon as he was stabbed. I think that something like that should tell you that they mean to harm him!"

Her voice rose as she continued, inwardly unsure why she was stressing so much over the six year old child. With a demon inside of him, he could probably protect himself by using its power, but he wasn't. And said demon wasn't even bothering with keeping its container alive. She paused with a curious look, and spoke up once more before either of the ANBU could. "He doesn't know. Does he?" She asked them, causing both masked ninja to shake their heads at the soon to be jonin. She sighed once more and thought more on the subject.

Of course he didn't know. He was only six, he didn't go to school, and he didn't have anyone tell him about the Kyūbi, as were the Hokage's orders. He didn't know why he was being attacked constantly, and only knew that just about everyone in the village, save for a few people, hated him and his very existence.

"I'm going home." She told the two, sighing deeply and walking away. "Go and get me when the Gaki wakes up." She knew that she could simply _Shushin _away, but she just wanted to walk right now, and she was perfectly fine with that.

* * *

Walking back to her home on the edge of the village, she tried her hardest, but couldn't stop thinking about one person.

Naruto.

She hadn't even truly spoken to him, and yet she was all he could think about. He had endured a similar pain to her, but she knew that his pain would be much worse than hers. When she was younger, she actually had people that she cared about, but now she didn't as most people hated her for being associated with _that Snake Bastard. _He however, never really knew people that loved him for him. Sure the Ichirakus loved Naruto, and they did care about him, but they probably wouldn't be like that if he wasn't there almost every day eating ramen by the bucket. Other than the Hokage, those were the only two people that she knew of who actually treated Naruto like a human being. She could count herself onto the list, but this was the first time that she had actually interacted with him.

He was probably the only person that she ever felt bad for, and it was driving her crazy. She just wanted to think about something else, but she just couldn't. While she hadn't ever directly interacted with him, she had seen the boy around the village a few times with that impossibly bright smile on his face. His emotions seemed to be infectious, as when he smiled, a few others smiled around him without knowing it, and when he was in pain, others suddenly felt the same

Anko groaned heavily as she stopped and turned around. The hospital, along with the academy, were connected to the Hokage's tower, and that was where she was going. While she couldn't just make the village stop beating him up, she could at least do her damn best to make sure that he could protect himself when the villagers formed a mob, and that would take some time.

* * *

Reaching the office to the Hokage, Anko opened up the door to find that the God of Shinobi was still at his desk, sighing papers. What she didn't know was that he was watching her on her way back to her home with the use of his crystal ball. "Anko. Is there something else that we need to talk about tonight?" He asked her, already having a good idea of what she was here for.

Anko nodded at the Hokage and looked at him calmly. His light smile and calm demeanor told her everything that she wanted to know at the moment. She knew that Hiruzen was extremely pissed off on the inside, but wouldn't show it. He was angered at the village for treating Naruto they way that they have been, and right now it only took one small step in the wrong direction to bring on his wrath. "Yes, Hokage-sama." She said back to him, thinking her thoughts over again to make sure that she would be making the right decision. "I want to become Naruto's guardian."

* * *

**Tada! A new story that I've been thinking about for a while. **

**While I am going to be Pairing up Naruto with someone later on, I have no idea who it will be. I'm always up for odd and crazy pairings, and although I'm fully up for some NaruAnko, that isn't what this story is about... completely.**

**I'm making Anko a bit older for this, to when he becomes a genin, at age 12, she'll be in her mid twenties, twenty seven is what I'm thinking now, which will make her twenty one right now at this point in the story. She's going to be a parent figure in this, and that's how it's going to be.**

**Rate and Review everyone!**

**Till next time!**


	2. The conversation

"I want to become Nartuo's guardian."

Sarutobi looked at Anko with a curious look, knowing that he had heard right, but wanting for her to say it again just so that they were both sure of what she said. He wanted to know why she suddenly wanted to watch over Naruto, as he knew that they never really talked to each other much. When the little blond would report to the Hokage at least a few times a week, he would probably say something if a suggestively dressed woman were to talk to him if the case were to ever arise.

"Hmm? You wish to become the guardian of Naruto? Tell me why." He didn't bother beating around the bush when it came to his surrogate grandson. Now usually, he would have instantly said 'no' to anyone who would try to adopt or take in Naruto, but that was only because he feared that people would only do that in order to get closer to him to kill him. Anko was different, though. She obviously held no hate for the little boy, and had no reason to. She was an orphan before the Kyūbi attack, and in truth had no friends at the time, so nobody that she knew was hurt by the nine-tailed fox.

"Because… Because he needs someone to look after him." She said hesitantly, still unsure about why she wanted to become the boy's guardian. She just knew that she had to do it, but she didn't at all know why.

"Yes, he does, but how does that reason make you any more qualified to look after him than the others who have asked the same things of me?" He asked her, getting a look of surprised from the pineapple-haired Chunin.

"Others? What others and how many were there?" She asked a bit frantically, questioning why the Hokage wouldn't let Naruto have a parent figure in his life.

"If I remember correctly, the Naras have asked me to give them custody of him, as well as Yamanaka Inoichi, and I believe even Chōza has done the same as well. Hiashi has asked to allow the Hyūga clan to watch over him, and surprisingly enough, an Inuzuka has asked the same. Tsume, I believe." Anko couldn't believe what she was hearing. Those were all great clans, but why hadn't Sarutobi allowed them access to look after the boy?  
As if the Hokage were reading her mind, he spoke up once more just as she opened up her mouth and raised a hand to tell her to keep quiet until he was done. "Before you ask any questions, I know that I should have let them take care of him, but I have no way of knowing if their intentions are true or not. I understand that I could have Inoichi come here and use his clan techniques, but what if they are conspiring against Naruto-kun? I cannot take risks like that, not with him. I've failed them far too much to let anything else come to him."

Somewhat, Anko was able to understand what he was getting at. In a world where your killer could be your best friend, a little paranoia was always good for you. It wasn't all too surprising to hear that all that the Ino-Shika-Cho trio all decided to house the boy, since when one made a decision, the other two usually agreed with it, especially when it was Shikaku who was making the decisions. However, she was more surprised to hear that the stoic Hyūga clan was also wishing to take in the boy. As far as she knew, no big numbers were taken off that clan during the attack six years ago, so maybe they weren't doing it out of revenge for their fallen clansmen. She could see the Inuzuka's trying to get a hold of Naruto, since they had been known to pick up 'strays' everyone once and a while.

However, she didn't know what his last statements meant. She assumed that it had something to do with the Kyubi, but his reasoning was much more than that. He had promised the boy's parents to look after Naruto, and he wasn't going to let them down any more than he already had.

Anko stood there and thought heavily about why she wanted to watch over Naruto. It was true that she felt bad for him, and shat she could obviously relate to him, but she knew that there was more than just being able to relate to him.

"I…" She started once more, but held back since she simply couldn't piece together the right combination of words that would explain why she wanted to watch over the little Uzumaki. Pictures of him flashed through her mind of the few times that she had seen him, smiling as brightly as the sun and not caring what others said or did to him. Surprisingly, she saw herself in him; always doing what she wanted without caring what the villagers did, always having a reason to eat their 'food of the gods', and hiding their pain under a mask of fake emotions.

She wasn't sure how long she was standing there lost in thought, and the fact that it was the dead of the night didn't help at all either. Sarutobi sat there patiently and also had little of an idea of how much time had passed. It hadn't been more than several minutes, but the silence made it seem much more than that.

Breaking the silence, the hokage and a good idea that he would share with Anko and maybe that would give her some more time to think about her answer. He had already deemed her worthy of looking after his surrogate grandson, but he wanted for her to know why she wanted to take care of him, as he already had a pretty good idea of why she opted to do so. He wasn't the Hokage for nothing, and had good reasoning for holding such a title. He was just as smart as he was powerful, making him a dangerous foe in multiple instances. "Anko." He said, bringing her attention back to the real word. "Since it seems that the Kyuubi will not be helping Naruto this time, he will most likely be unconscious for a few days. Take this time to think about why you want to watch over him. When he wakes up, I will send one of my ANBU to get you and you can give me your reasoning then, okay?"

Nodding slowly, Anko said nothing to her Hokage as she stood there, still trying to think over why she wanted to watch over him. She knew that she was far from being the best person to look after a kid, and really, she wasn't even sure that she could do it. Sure he had some spare money after missions, but she had heard that the Junchuriki would put a restaurant out of business if he wanted to. She didn't have the money to pay for that kind of food, and although Dango was her go-to food, she still had to eat healthily. She was a ninja after all, and she needed to be healthy at all times.

"If that is all, Anko. It is getting late, and I believe that you have some thinking to do. Take care." Sarutobi said to her, getting another nod from her before she walked out the door. From the calm and focused look she had on her face, it was easy to see that she was already thinking about this and taking it seriously as well. That was Odd for Anko, especially considering that this was more about Naruto than it was about her.

The Hokage knew, though, as the two of them were both equally important in this matter. He decided not to elaborate on it further, and instead rose from his seat, planning on retiring to his quarters for the night.

* * *

Naruto groaned lowly as he opened his eyes. He had no idea where he was, but it obvious wasn't Konoha. He had been all over the village, and he had not once seen a sewer design like the one that he was currently in. Although the sewer appeared dirty and filthy, there was no scent whatsoever.

The young blonde slowly picked himself up off of the ground and looked around some more. He had realized that there was no pain when he stood up, and upon inspecting his body, he was bruise free, something that was usually common for him, but still off. Usually there would be very light and small markings from the previous cuts, but his body was perfectly fine.

Suddenly, a threatening aura of power made itself known to Naruto, causing him to flinch and take a step back. After a moment of silence, there was a low and deep laugh coming from afar. Naruto wanted to know where he was and how he was perfectly healed, so he followed the sound of the voice where a large gate with a piece of paper on it stood in his way from continuing further. Naruto was small anough to pass through the gates, but he didn't as of yet. He didn't know what was on the other side, and he was being unusually cautious about the ordeal. Suddenly, a deep voice spoke to him.

**"My jailer decides to visit me at last… To what do I owe the honor?"**

The voice was obvious sarcastic, and although nothing could be seen from the other side of the gates, Naruto knew that whoever was speaking to him was on the other side. The young blonde took a small step over to the gate, now examining the piece of paper with the kanji of 'seal' on it.

Naruto didn't know what to say to the voice, as he wasn't sure what it was talking about in the slightest. He had just been called a jailor, but it made no sense to him. He didn't own a prison, and had no relations to one. Deciding to ask the obvious question, Naruto took another small step towards the gate.

"Who are you…?"

A deep and low laugh could be heard from the other side of the gates, and as time passed, it slowly got louder and louder.

**"Who am I…? WHO AM I!? I AM THE GREAT KYUBI NO YOKO!"**

Its thunderous laugh could be heard all throughout the sewers, causing Naruto to take a small step back. Suddenly, its laughing ceased, and there was nothing but silence for a moment. Slowly, the Demon Fox walked up to the bars and looked down at its container, an evil smirk on its face. In reality, the Kyūbi had actually called Naruto into the seal, and only asked the first question to humor itself.

Naruto didn't say anything to the demon fox, his eyes wide and his jaw just slightly down. He had heard about the demon fox attack before when he was sneaking around, but he had no idea that he was connected to it. It all made sense now that he came to the realization of what was going on. Suddenly, his jaw clenched, and his eyebrows narrowed the tailed beast.

"So you're the reason I always get beat up! Because I have you locked up in me! Baka-fox! Why don't you just leave?" He was clearly mad at the fox, but the beast didn't seem offended. The Kyūbi understood the hate that came from the village, as it did attack it six years ago, and did a fair amount of damage. To be fair though, it wasn't really it that was attacking. The Kyūbi knew that someone was controlling him do attack Konoha.

**"If it was that easy, Kit, I would have already left your body by now… We are bound until your natural death."**

The Kyūbi was getting off track, and shook its head slightly at the boy who was looking at him questioningly, wondering what it was talking about.

**"That is not why I called you here, though. I want to make two things perfectly clear."**

It spoke seriously as it practically glared down at the boy, but not sending any killing intent his way. Naruto remained quiet, wanting to know what it was going to say.

**"The first… I did not attack Konoha out of my free will. I was controlled into doing so and had no choice of my actions." **The Kyūbi wanted to make it perfectly clear that it did not intentionally attack Konoha, and by the nod that Naruto gave it, he seemed to have understood that only someone with an impossible amount of power would be able to do such a thing.

**"The second thing is that I do NOT plan on having a weak container. As a Jinchūriki, you are expected to use my power, but I am expecting you to be able to fight your own battles without even thinking about calling on my power. There isn't going to be someone to jump in like what happened just moments ago…" **It smirked evilly at Naruto as it remembered the provocatively dressed purple haired woman, who swooped in and saved Naruto and it.

Naruto wasn't unconscious when Anko had dropped in and saved him, but he wasn't able to look up at her, and her voice was dulled to the point where he could hardly hear anything. He knew that he was lucky for her to come along, and wanted to find a way to thank her if he ever saw her again.

"So… Where are we?"

The Kyūbi should have expected this question, as it had seen Naruto's memories, and he hadn't leaned a whole lot in the six years that he had been alive, so the great beast decided to explain it to him. **"This is your subconscious. The mindscape. With enough training, you can reshape this world with a simple thought, and maybe then I can finally get a nice place to live for once…" **It muttered the last part as it looked down at Naruto, slowly laying down to attempt to become level with the boy.

**"But enough of that." **The Kyūbi spoke, making Naruto look up at it wondering what it was about to say next. **"You need your rest, and let this be a reminder that you cannot rely on me to keep you alive. I expect you to become strong, and when I find you worthy, I will allow you to use my powers."**

Naruto nodded at the demon fox and it nodded back to him. The young boy watched as the world around him became black, and smiled to himself knowing that he had possibly just made two friends. The first one was the Kyūbi itself, who didn't seem as bad as he thought it was going to be; and the second one was the person who had saved him. He knew that he would have to ask the Hokage who had saved him, but that could wait until he woke up.

* * *

Back out in the real world, two ANBU watched over the boy, making sure that nobody would come in and attack him while in this state. It was so odd seeing him there, not being healed, and not smiling in the least.

As if Naruto were reading their minds, his face cracked a slight smile that could be seen by the two ANBU. Without knowing it themselves, the two of them smiled as well. The one with the cat mask dropped down from her position on the ceiling, slowly walking over to Naruto. Inu simply watched as Neko stood at the side of his bed, examining his face, seeing if the smile that they had detected was actually there or not. It had only been a few hours since Anko had dropped him off, but it seemed like an eternity since she had last talked. "

"I guess we should take better care of him now that Anko seems a little protective over him, huh Inu?" She was only given a nod in response, but it was all that was needed. They both knew that Anko would chop their heads off for not protecting him right, and she would make sure that it was as slow and painful as possible for the both of them. Both of them shuddered at the thought of Anko torturing them, and silently decided to be more protective of the boy.

* * *

**Tada! While I'm not all that happy about this chapter, I do feel that I can move on now. I just can't seem to make Anko's emotions real enough during this part, but I hope that I can improve in the future.**

**Also, please check out the poll on my page so that you can vote for who will be paired with Naruto. As I said before, Naruto will not be paired with Anko in this, so don't even bother talking to me about the two of them hooking up in this.**

**With that out of the way, I'll see you all next time!**


	3. The Dream

Lying down on his bed, the aged Hokage sighed lightly as he looked up at the ceiling, thinking over the recent events involving his surrogate grandson. After six years of violence and torture, Sarutobi was finally starting to see that the village wasn't going to even begin accepting Naruto unless he proved it to them all, and they weren't going to make it easy.

While he did outlaw people speaking openly about the Kyūbi, as well as doing what he could to watch over Naruto, but it would not be nearly enough. He knew all too well that Naruto was attacked almost constantly, and even with ANBU watching over him, they did not do their job completely. They did come in and save him, but only when he had an inch of his life left. They never stepped in when the attacks started, and he knew that he was going to have to start changing a lot of things.

His relaxed gaze turned into a cold stare as he looked up at the ceiling and thought about Naruto's current condition. If he wasn't as lenient as he was, maybe it would have never come to this. Maybe he would have been respected like the Kumo Jinchūriki he had heard about, who also had close relations to the Kage of his village. If only Sarutobi had been a better Kage, then it was possible that Naruto wouldn't have had to face all of the hatred that he currently did. He could have just taken him into the Sarutobi Clan, as nobody would have messed with him then.

For the sake of Naruto, he was going to be a better Hokage.

* * *

Sarutobi wasn't the only person who was thinking about Naruto, as Anko was doing the same on her walk back home, as well as the half hour that she spent while laying in bed.

She didn't know why she wanted to look after Naruto, but something inside of her told her that it had to be done. When she looked around her house, she knew well that it wasn't the best place for a child to grow up in; and decided to start cleaning up, at least a little bit.

On the outside, she wasn't the best choice for being a mother. Even she knew that she wasn't parent material, but something inside of her was telling her that it would be best for the both of them if she were to take him in, and it wasn't the dark whisperings of the curse mark this time. It sounded like her own voice, and didn't remind her at all about the man who had put the seal on her.

He had placed the curse seal on her and later told her that she didn't have the drive to use it, and abandoned her and left her for dead. She idolized the man because he was all that she had, but in the end she threw her away like a piece of trash.

By this time, she was unsure of if she was dreaming or not, but watched as the events unfolded in front of her. She didn't know where she was, but it appeared to be just a plain forest in the land of Fire. Naruto was next to her with a smiling face, and in front of the two of them was another person. It was currently dark out, and she wasn't able to see the face of the third person, but she knew that it was Naruto next to her because of the kind warmth that he constantly gave off.

Naruto took a small step towards the person in front of him and smiled at them. Anko had assumed that the person smiled back from the slight tilt of the head, but was overall unsure of who it was or who it could have been.

Breaking the silence, Naruto took another step forward and kept his eyes on her person in front of him. "Thank you -Sensei! You're the coolest!" He said brightly, getting a nod from the person. Anko looked at them curiously and replayed the sentence in her mind, completely unable to hear the name of the person. It was as if Naruto's voice was completely muted when he had spoke the name of his apparent sensei.

The person nodded and replied back, but to Anko, it wasn't any recognizable voice that she had ever heard. In fact, it was the voices of many people what she had heard before, all speaking different words, but acting as if they were one. **"Thank you Naruto. I'm glad that you came to join me in my trip, but I am also disappointed because of it."** The voice said sadly, looking down at the ground. Naruto Frowned and took another step over to the person.

"What's wrong sensei? Did I do something wrong?" He asked the person, his voice not being muted because he didn't speak the name of his sensei. As both he and Anko looked at the person in confusion, it nodded as it kept its head down.

**"Yes, Naruto. You did do something wrong. You misused my teachings."** The voice now said coldly, striking Naruto quickly. Naruto was fortunate enough to move so that she strike wouldn't hit his heard, but the hand of the person hit his shoulder instead, causing him to spin backwards and hit a tree. Naruto grunted with pain and kept his eyes on his sensei as it moved closer to him.

Anko could only watch as the person picked up Naruto and looked him straight in the eyes. She had no access to her voice, and her legs were stuck to the ground, only allowing her upper body to move. She had tried to scream and yell and get his attention, but neither Naruto or his sensei acknowledged her existence.

"What did I do? I'm sure that I can make it up! I didn't do anything at all!" He tried to hell his sensei, but the person didn't do anything other than backing its head with Naruto's then dropping the boy as soon as it pulled its head back. Although Naruto was losing consciousness, the person spoke to Naruto in the same cold voice as before.

**"Exactly. You did nothing. You are a disgrace and a monster. Even with the power you contain, you are nothing. Useless When they find you, I will be long gone, and I expect for whoever is looking for me will kill you just to get you out of everyone's way."** The being said as it kicked Naruto In the head and ran away at speeds that only a Sannin could have.

Anko was enraged at the person who hurt Naruto, but also worried since she knew whoever would find him would surely finish the job. Suddenly, her legs began to move again, and she quickly ran over to Naruto and held him in her arms. He was a little taller than she had remembered him to be, but it still felt like him.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, crying and trying to wake him up, but the next thing she knew he was back in her bed, covered in sweat and the covers that she was sleeping under now on the ground.

* * *

The memories were too real for her, and she replayed them in her mind constantly. Naruto looked so heartbroken when his sensei had told him that it was disappointed. She assumed that he had put a lot of trust into his sensei, and all of a sudden she was out cold and left to die.

Her eyes widened even further as she came to the realization that it was impossibly similar to when she had last seen Orochimaru, but he was in her place, and his sensei was literally anyone, as all of the voices she had heard were from people that she knew.

She struggled to continue thinking about it, but she knew that it was the key to answering the question that her Hokage had given her.

It was so much like her own ordeal, but at the same time it was different. She knew inside that she couldn't let something like that happen to him, and she knew that she couldn't let him turn out like she did.

As she told herself the night before, she began to clean up her apartment after eating breakfast, planning on getting the place clean enough for another person to move in. Anko hoped that the Hokage would allow her to take in the little gaki, and spent more than enough time practicing what she was going to say while cleaning.

After having felt that her apartment was fine for the time being, he smiled to herself and took a brief shower before getting new clothes and heading out. Even though she appeared tough as nails and borderline psychotic on the outside, she wasn't really as mean as she seemed. She had to make an image for herself to prove the village wrong about her, and if that meant not being able to look at things that were even a tiny bit frilly in public, then so be it.

* * *

It was still fairly early in Konogakure, and although Anko usually wouldn't be up at the current hour, but she had business to attend to. He had some things to talk to the Hokage about, as well as the fact that she needed to see if Naruto had gotten better since the night before. Kakashi and Yugao had both told her that the Kyūbi wasn't helping Naruto's healing process, and she only hoped that the fox would finally decide to help now.

While busy with her thoughts Anko wasn't able to see the young girl that she had just bumped in to. Looking down at the girl with a bit of surprise, she kept her face somewhat blank while she studied her. The girl did the same and said nothing, but her face said that she did recognize Anko.

Anko looked down at the girl and couldn't help but notice the two large, red fang-like tattoos that were on both sides of her face. She currently had three pups with her, with one of them being on her head, another on her shoulder, and the last on the ground right next to her feet. Despite not having wild hair, slit eyes, or extended canines, Anko knew well that the girl was an Inuzuka.

While the Inuzuka girl was about to say something, Anko placed a hand over her mouth just as her lips opened, and Anko shook her head softly. "Quiet." She said simply, giving the girl a more serious look. She couldn't place the girl's looks anywhere, and sighed in defeat only seconds after ordering the girl to stay quiet.

The snake mistress removed her hand from the girls mouth and looked at her plainly. "Don't know you. You look a little to… normal, to be Inuzuka. No crazy hair, no crazy eyes, and no giant teeth. What's your name?" She asked to the girl, getting the Inuzuka to smile slightly.

"I'm Hana Inuzuka. You're… Mitarashi Anko… Right?" She asked, getting a nod from the older woman. Anko wasn't sure how Hana knew her name, but before she could ask, Hana spoke again. "Kaa-san said something about you. I can't remember what it was, but she was smiling so it was a good sign."

Anko was now wondering who her mother was, and lucky for her, Hana didn't interrupt her this time when she asked a question. "Who is your mother, and how would….. She's Tsume, huh?" Anko said flatly, knowing that there was no other Inuzuka that she knew around her own age group, and she should have known that it was Tsume's kid from the start. Hana simply nodded at Anko with a small smile.

"She is, and I'm sorry to leave, but I need to go and see Hokage-sama." Hana told Anko, snapping her fingers to get the pup that was on the ground to pay attention and follow her.

Anko watched as the young Inuzuka walked away from her and to the Hokage tower. It was a coincidence that she was also going there, but to not seem like a weird stalker, she decided to change her route slightly to head on her way over to the hospital to check up on a certain young blonde.

* * *

**Tada! Quick little chapter for all of you readers.**

**I'm already starting up on introducing Hana, as you can see above, and I think that she will turn out great.**

**I would also like to say that I would like to have a Beta for this, as well as ones for my upcoming stories that I told you all about in the update.**

**See you all next time!**


	4. The Meeting

Walking through the doors of the hospital, Anko lightly gazed around the lobby before heading to the front desk. The lobby was quiet, as only a few people were seated. Most of the chairs in the room were empty, and Anko assumed that the people there were sitting down because they needed to get checked, or something along those lines. For the moment, it wasn't her business, so she simply continued walking to the desk.

A young woman was seated on the other side of the desk, going through a rather small book. The woman's onyx eyes moved quickly past each line of text, taking up as much information as she could at the rate she was reading. The woman didn't notice Anko standing at the desk, and only took note of the purple-haired woman after a random hand forcibly closed the book. An "Eep!" could be heard from the woman at the desk, her rolling chair moving back only slightly. Quickly, the woman set her book down and nodded at Anko. "Sorry about that. Can I help you?"

Anko nodded in understanding and clanked over at the clipboard with the sign-in sheet for the visitors. "I'm here to see a friend. I brought him in last night, and I want to see if he's gotten any better." She spoke in a calm and even tone, one that she didn't use all that often.

The woman across from her nodded quickly and swiveled her chair so that she could grab the clipboard before handing it to Anko. The woman was curious as to who she was seeing, as she knew of Anko, but didn't know that she was good friends with anyone other than Kurenai Yuhi and Yugao Uzuki. "If you don't mind me asking, who are you seeing?"

Anko looked up from the clipboard after signing in and paused for a moment. She wasn't sure how the woman would react to finding out that she was seeing Naruto, but mentall shook those thoughts. _"Screw it. If she gets all prissy because I'm coming to visit him, then so be it." _She thought to herself as she allowed the pen to fall in between her fingers and onto the desk which the clipboard was resting on. "Naruto Uzumaki." She said blandly, expecting for the woman's mood to suddenly change.

Instead, she smiled sadly at Anko and remembered what she had heard just as she punched in for the day. "I heard that he was getting better, but he's still in pretty bad shape. He isn't in critical anymore, so that's good."

Anko's eyes widened at the woman. She was one of the extremely few people who actually didn't see Naruto as the demon fox that was sealed inside of him. Immediately, she squinted her eyes and looked at the woman, wondering why she didn't seem to hate Naruto like the rest of the village. "Why are you treating him differently than most of the village…?" She asked, getting the woman to tilt her head in curiosity.

Normally, Anko would be thankful to find out that someone else saw Naruto as a person, but the woman seemed like a civilian woman, or a rookie chunin.

"What do you mean?" She asked, curious about what she was talking about.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. There's no way you haven't heard about his _'tenant'_ before! Everyone in the village knows about the fox, and you're acting like you've never heard of it." She had to keep herself quiet. She couldn't make a scene in the hospital lobby, and she knew that well.

"Oh." The woman simply said, taking back at clipboard and inspecting the most recent entry. "Well, you see… I just don't think that it's possible for the Kyūbi to take the form or Naruto. If it had, the demon chakra would be felt throughout Konoha. When I went past his room this morning, I felt a little bit of it, but if he were actually the fox, there wouldn't be two distinct kinds of chakra coming from him!" She said cheerily, getting a questioning look from Anko. The woman then rose from her chair and leaned across the counter and whispered to Anko. "Between you and me, I think that the Kyūbi is SEALED inside of him! He could have had some of the demon chakra implanted in him at a young age, but I don't think that's possible."

Anko had so many questions for the woman, but there were far too many to ask right now. "Are you not from around here or something?" Anko asked, trying to be as calm as possible with the woman.

The nurse nodded and sat back down in her chair, smiling at Anko. "How'd you know? I spent most of my life traveling with my family. Kaa-san taught me how to be a med-nin, and Tou-san protected us while we traveled around the border. I've only been in Konoha for a month, and I really like it here."

Anko sighed to herself and looked down at the ground. She picked her head up once more as the nurse spoke again. "Naruto is in room 304. Hokage-sama wanted him in a room high off the ground so that he couldn't escape through the window. Sorry for keeping you so long."

The purple haired woman nodded slowly and walked away from the desk, leaving the kind woman to her own devices. She was a little odd, but Anko didn't mind that at all. Even though she only met the med-nin, she had a feeling that she could be trusted. She was certainly smarter than just about all of the civilians in Konoha, and that was welcomed and appreciated.

Anko walked through the white halls of the hospital and made her way to the third floor, where she assumed Naruto was put after he left the ER. She could only hope that the fox was cooperating now, and from what the woman at the counter said earlier, she was being led to believe that Naruto was being healed by the previously mentioned fox.

She quietly read off the numbers on the doors as she passed them, stopping as she found the room that Naruto was apparently in at the moment. It didn't seem like that woman would lead her on and tell her to go to the wrong room, but one could never know.

With a light sigh escaping her lips, Anko reached her hand out and grabbed the handle of the door, twisting it and pulling it in her direction to open it. Walking in, the first thing she saw was the blindingly bright blonde hair of the young Uzumaki, who was resting peacefully in his bed. A soft smile graced her lips at the sight, and she walked over to the side of the bed, pulling out a chair to sit on.

_"Wake up soon, gaki. Because when you do, you life's getting a whole lot better…"_ Anko thought to herself as he sat next to Naruto, simply watching him inhale and exhale. He looked so much better than he did when she had found him, and she knew that only the Kyūbi could have done something like that.

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, just watching over the boy, but suddenly, she spoke up and broke the silence. "You don't have to sit in the shadows like that. It's probably pretty uncomfortable from where you two are."

Neither of the ANBU were really surprised to hear that Anko knew that they were there, but they were both curious about how long she had known on their presence.

The Inu and Neko masked ANBU left their stations in the shadows, knowing well that Anko would pull them out if need be.

Suddenly, Anko smiled sweetly at the two of them and talked in a voice far too sweet for comfort. While Neko wasn't as affected as Inu was, she was still quite scared of the Chunin woman in front of her. "Now, tell me EXACTLY why you two didn't jump in and save the Gaki as soon as it started getting dicey…"

Neither of them had anything to say to Anko. They were both ashamed for not helping him sooner, and had no reason to not protect him other than 'just because'. Anko understood this, and after a while she broke the silence once more. Under no means was she completely forgiving them for what they did. She was pissed at them to no extent, and she wanted their masked heads on spikes. She kept that to herself, however, and tried to stay calm. "Alright then. Just do your damn jobs the next time this happens, otherwise I'll have to step in again… I may even chew the two of you out to Dolphin."

Her sweet smile quickly shifted to a shit-eating grin as soon as the Dolphin ANBU was mentioned, making both Inu and Neko pale under their masks. Dolphin had only been in the ANBU for a little more than a year, but that wasn't to say that he wasn't skilled. With his speed and tracking skills, he's probably one of the few that could ever catch Naruto, if the case were to ever rise.

He wasn't an ANBU captain like Inu was, but Dolphin sure acted like one. He had sparred with Inu a few times, and the dog masked ninja would win by smaller margins each time. At the rate he was at, He'd be equal to Kakashi in a few years.

"You don't have to do that, Anko. We've learned our lesson. He'd have our heads for not doing our jobs correctly." Neko spoke up, her mask directed at Anko. Neither of the purple haired women understood how they could talk perfectly fine under those fairly thick ANBU masks, but Neko had assumed that it was some kind of seal or something.

"She's right. We'll be watching him better from now on." Inu spoke as well and paused for a moment, thinking about why Anko was there. "Why are you here Anko? Something important must have happened for you to go this far for him."

While some would have taken that as some form of an insult, Anko simply nodded. She understood what Kakashi was getting at. She was always as tough as nails, and hardly ever cared about anyone other than herself. She didn't favor kids in the slightest, and she was well known for being bloodthirsty. That was only her mask, and if those were her true emotions, then she probably would have gotten mad at the silver haired ANBU for saying that. "A lot of things happened, Kakashi. That's all you need to know for now." Her smile disappeared, and was replaced with a calm and serious look. Her voice also lost most of its usual cockyness and power.

Kakashi sighed and shook his head. "It might be just the four of us in here, but you know the rules. You can't use my name when I have the mask on."

Anko then smirked at her masked wearing friends and stood still. "You're right. Sorry about that dog-face. I'll make sure to remember that." Her cocky tone was back, and both Inu and Neko sighed at the smirking young woman. It was obvious that she didn't want to into the details of what made her go to the hospital, so they kept quiet about it.

All three conscious heads turned to the door as someone knocked on it from the other side. Anko stood up and walked over to the door and opened it, revealing another ANBU. The mask turned to face the woman at the door, and the ANBU bowed lightly. "Anko-san. Hokage-Sama is wondering if you've gathered your thoughts about taking in the… Uzumaki boy. I understand that it's been less than a day, but the Hokage believes that you already have your reasoning."

The voice from the third ANBU sounded blank and monotone, but Anko still knew that whoever was behind the mask didn't favor Naruto all that much by the pause the he made when announcing his name.

Anko nodded to him and glanced back at Inu and Neko, who were both looking at her curiously. "Tell him that I'll be on my way as soon as I'm done here. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes at the most."

The ANBU quietly said "Hai", and bowed once more before leaving. Anko turned back around to her two masked friends and sighed audibly.

"You heard him. I asked the Hokage if I could watch over the boy. I'm going to leave it at that for now." She told them, walking back over to her seat and sitting down next to Naruto. The purple haired woman smiled at him kindly before getting up and walking out the door without another word. In this time, Inu and Neko both got back into their spots in the shadows.

_"wake up soon, gaki._"

It didn't take long for Anko to arrive at the Hokage tower, as the tower was connected to the hospital and it was only a short walk. Because of what the ANBU had told her, she already knew why the Hokage was summoning her, and she knew his reasoning for calling her to him only a few hours after they had last spoken.

She was sure that she knew his reasons for sending the ANBU, but there was always a chance of her being wrong. There had been several times in her life where she believed one thing, and another thing happened, being wrong was always a possibility.

Entering the Hokage tower, Anko said nothing to the secretary, as Anko was supposed to be there, and wasn't asking to see the village leader. She didn't like the secretary, even though she didn't really show any hate towards Anko. The snake mistress just had an odd feeling about her, and decided not to talk to her unless she was needed, which was highly unlikely.

The two simply shared a glance and that was that.

Anko walked up to the Hokage's office at her own pace and was faced with the ANBU from earlier, the one that had told her about her summons to the office. Apparently he was supposed to escort her to the office, but he and Sarutobi knew that she didn't really need an escort of any kind.

The woman eyed the ANBU suspiciously and walked over to the door, her eyes never leaving his mask. Finally speaking up, curiosity was obvious in her voice. "Why are you here? Don't have anything against you, but shouldn't you be back at your post or something, not just standing around here?"

The ANBU didn't move, but still replied to the curious woman. "Hokage-sama told me to stay here and not let anybody other than you inside. Since you're discussing matters about Uzumaki, He wants his office guarded just in case anybody overhears or tries to listen in. Privacy seals will be put in place when you walk in, allowing you to speak at any volume you with without attracting attention."

"I see. Well, thanks." Was all that Anko said before knocking on the door to the office. After a brief moment, a faint "Enter" could be heard from the other side. The doors opened to reveal the Hokage sitting like usual, looking at Anko with a calm smile.

Something seemed different to her. The atmosphere of the room wasn't like it was before. She couldn't explain it, but something had indeed changed within the last thirteen hours.

"Before we get to Naruto-kun, Anko, I think that there is another matter that we should discuss while you're here." The Hokage said to her calmly, looking at her and examining her face. Curiosity was written all over it as she stepped closer, the door shutting behind her.

Anko wondered what he was talking about, as not much of anything had happened between her saving Naruto and now, but she was going to listen to her leader. "And what would that be?" She asked curiously, preferring to stand at the moment rather than sit. The atmosphere still felt odd to her, and she didn't want to get comfy at the moment.

"Hana Inuzuka came into my office a few minutes ago to give her report of her most recent mission. The rest of her team is relaxing from their mission, and she took it upon herself to give the report to me." The Sarutobi elder paused to allow the information sink in, his smile widening as the look on Anko's face told him that she had recently encountered the girl.

"I see. Did something go wrong? I don't see the reason for telling me all of this." She wasn't really sure why the Hokage was talking about the girl to her, but she was sure that he was getting to that.

"Nothing went wrong, but she told me that she was held back from doing so because of 'an odd, purple-haired woman that dressed weird and smelled of snakes' if I remember her words right. I just wanted to clarify with you that a meeting between the two of you took place before she came to the tower." A small smile could be seen on the face of the elder Sarutobi as he looked at Anko, who's eyes widened as a look of anger spread across her face.

Anko was more amused than mad at what Hana had said to the Hokage, and only put on the look of anger as a show for the silent ANBU hiding in the shadows. Not long after, though, she calmed down and smiled at the Hokage. She nodded to him before speaking. "Yeah, I ran into her earlier today, but I don't think that I held her back long enough for her to have the need to apologize to you."

Sarutobi nodded back to her with his usual smile and remembered what had happened once the Inuzuka girl apologized to him. "I agree with you. There wasn't really any reason for her to apologize, but she insisted on doing so." He paused once more before clearing his throat, bringing his thoughts to the main topic of their meeting.

"I do understand that it had been a day, Anko, but I know how fast you think, and I assume that you have come to your decision." He said to her, getting the snake mistress to dawn a calm and serious look as she looked at the leader of the village.

She hesitantly nodded to him, pausing because of doubt.

_"Can I really do this? Killing people is one thing, but taking care of a kid is another. Not to mention one who is probably a mental wreck on the inside…."_ She thought to herself, refusing to speak at the moment. She didn't think that she was ready to take care of him, despite all of her earlier thoughts. She was a mess. Even under the mask that she hid under. She didn't think that she was ready, but she had to be. Nobody else would care for the boy in the way that he needed to be cared for, and Anko Mitarashi wasn't one to back down from things that even Kage feared!

A fire lit in her eyes as she gave the Hokage a look of determination. Her nervousness and fear was gone, now replaced by shining determination.

"I will take care of Naruto Uzumaki!"

The Hokage's smile widened as he heard those words, and the old man pulled out a scroll from his desk. It was the document that would legally sign Naruto over to her, and all he needed as her signature and a blood sample. The sample was a new addition, as it was just to make sure that it was actually her signing the paper instead of someone else.

Hiruzen placed the scroll on the desk and motioned for Anko to take it. While she moved forward and took the scroll, the old man moved a brush over to her so that she could sign the document.

Anko read through the paper carefully to make sure that everything was in order. Naruto would be moved out of his currently residence, and would be placed wherever Anko lived. She would become his guardian until he became of age or reached the Chunin rank. After that, he would be allowed to move out to continue his life, but she would still be his guardian, and would be referred to if anything were to happen to him. She nodded as she reached the end of the paper, but stopped and looked back at the last few lines.

_"The guardian(s) of __**Naruto Uzumaki**__ will be given full access to the clan and all of its belongings once __**Naruto Uzumaki**__ reaches the Chunin rank. He/She/They will also hold the council seat if __**Naruto Uzumaki**__ is unable to attend."_

She looked up at the Hokage curiously, and the old man chuckled as he knew what she was curious about.

"That will be explained later, Anko. If you wish to know more about the segment, please meet me later, when the walls are less likely to have ears." He spoke carefully as he pulled out another scroll, watching Anko nod and take the brush to sign her name. He moved slightly when she bit her thumb to draw blood, instead of using a kunai or other bladed weapon. He watched as her blood dripped from her thumb to the paper, the paper glowing for a moment before returning to normal.

Anko was once again curious as she watched the paper glow. She assumed that it was a seal of some sort, and something else would have happened if it wasn't her blood that was dropped on the paper. She said nothing as she rolled the scroll back up and placed it back on the desk, taking the other scroll from Hiruzen.

"Read that one when you have the time, Anko. Not here." He said to her, getting her to nod slowly as she put the scroll away.

Anko and the Hokage waited in silence for several minutes, the former thinking about what she would need to do to take care of Naruto. The old Sarutobi simply watched Anko for a moment before giving her another smile.

"I'm glad that we were able to give Naruto a home. I'm sure that you have things to do before Naruto is released from the hospital, so I'd hate to be keeping you. Good day, Anko." He spoke to her, getting her to snap out of her thoughts and reenter reality.

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I'll see you later." She said, giving him a short bow before turning away from him and walking out the door.

Anko was curious to know what was in the other scroll that Hiruzen had given her. The way he spoke after she had reread the last lines of the first scroll and how he spoke after she had gotten the second one was odd, and she replayed the words over in her head.

_"Where the walls don't have ears… Read it when I have time… It's obvious that he wanted to speak privately about what those last sentences meant, and this scroll has something to do with it, but what kind of secret would warrant that much caution from the Hokage…? Sure, he might be old, but he can still kick major ass if he needed to."_

She wanted to look at the scroll right now, but even though she wanted to, she knew that it would better to wait until she was back home. She had planned to do a couple of things first, but they could wait.

Walking back to her house, Anko was left alone to be with her thoughts. She still had doubts about raising Naruto, but she didn't know who else was going to do it, and she couldn't just pass him on to be someone else's problem. She had been so occupied with her thoughts that she didn't realize that she was home until she almost ran into the front door.

The house that Anko lived in wasn't run down, it wasn't a mess, and it wasn't anywhere near what people expected from her. The snake woman had a fairly nice house that was near the edge of the village. It had a simply tan coloring to the outside walls, and it was for the most part bare with the exception of a few windows and the door. The young woman unlocked the door without any problems and closed it behind her.

Just about everyone assumed that she lived in a hellhole with torturing devices, rotting pieces of flesh, and many other inhumane things. Actually, it was a fairly nice and well furbished home. Tan was the primary color, with greys, blacks, and purples in various other places to keep it from being monotonous. Many of the pictures on the walls of her with her two main friends, Yugao Uzuki, and Kurenai Yuhi. She could be seen smiling, laughing, and even a few not long after the results of her pranks. While she didn't prank all that much, when she did, the town was often in ruins because of them.

Flopping down on her couch, Anko pulled out the scroll from her trench coat and opened it up, reading through it slowly to not miss anything important. She could have easily read through it quickly and still memorize all of it, but she just wanted to read it slowly at the moment.

_"Anko. _

_I'm so glad that you were willing to become Naruto's guardian. I know that you weren't happy when finding out that I had turned down many capable clans who also wanted to watch over Naruto, but I do have my reasons. Without doubt, I'm sure that you noticed the last few lines of the document. I hand wrote this document myself, because it is far more important than people will realize. I want to talk more about it with you tonight at the Hokage Mansion, where I'm sure that nobody will be able to listen into the conversation except for us. I know that it seems a little excessive, but it is absolutely necessary. I'm going to have Naruto stay at the hospital for a few more days, as it should give you time to prepare living with him. He needs a parent in his life, Anko. Despite what you think, I'm sure that you can be there for Naruto when he needs you._

_Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage"_

**Tada!**

**It took longer than I wanted, but I finally got the next chapter out! Honestly, I wanted to make it longer, but I felt like I had to give you guys somethings while I work on the second half of this. Hopefully it ties you down until I'm done with the next one, so until next time!**


	5. The other Meeting

The sun was finally starting to set in the village of _Konohagakure_, and very few people could be happier about that than Mitarashi Anko. There were several reasons behind her joy, the main one being that she could soon go to the Hokage to talk to him about something that seemed to concern Naruto and a council seat. The precautions that he took to make sure that only Anko saw the message that he had given her were enough to tell her that this was important, and in the wrong hands this information could cause chaos.

While thinking of that, she also wondered why Hiruzen had chosen her out of all people to watch over Naruto. She didn't even truly know why she had offered to become his guardian. As the day passed, she thought more about it, and believed that she was close to coming to a conclusion. The snake mistress was one of the few people who could truly connect with Naruto. She had felt the village's wrath much like he did, and knew what it was like to be alone. She saw a bit of herself in him, and didn't want for him to be corrupted by the village any more than he already was. She could see his mask as if it were a physical object, and she knew that underneath that mask was a hurt and tormented boy who was treated badly for reasons he didn't understand. All it takes is one well placed strike to shatter his mask and his soul to reveal the monster they took him as. If no one intervened, it was only a matter of time before the Kyūbi took over his body and decimated Konoha. She understood his pain, and she could put an end to it.

This had been one of the longest days of her life. While she did kill some time by buying food for both Naruto and herself, she had spent most of the day cleaning her house to the point where a single speck of dust wasn't on the ground, and waiting as patiently as she could for the day to pass.

Getting ready to grab some dinner for both her and possibly the boy she would now be raising, Anko heard a knock at the door. It could have only been a few select people, as nobody really came out to see her.

When she got to the door, the snake mistress opened the door to see her red eyed friend on the other side. She was dressed like the normally was, with her wild and long black hair going down her back and her dress mimicking the thorns of a rose. Judging by her slightly fatigued appearance, as well as the fact that she was lightly panting, Anko could tell that she had run from wherever she was before to Anko's home.

"Kurenai, what brings you over to my little neck of the urban woods?" Anko asked with obvious curiosity.

"A cat told me that you were becoming a parent." She replied with a rather bland tone of voice, but a small hint of something else was also in her voice. Anko couldn't tell exactly what it was, but she was sure that it was excitement.

Anko nodded slowly, cursing under her breath at Yugao. Yugao didn't gossip all that much, but when her friends were involved, the chances of her talking about something raised noticeably. With Naruto involved as well, the chances were raised even higher.

"What of it?" She replied simply, unhappy with Yugao at the moment. She was going to get her back, and she was going to get her back good.

Kurenai slowly showed herself in. She and Anko had been friends for so long that just appearing at one another's house wasn't uncommon. "A few things, actually." She said calmly. "I don't want to be mean, Anko, but are you sure that you can do this? You've worked so hard to raise people's respect for you, and you'd be back at square one –or even lower– if this goes through. Also, you aren't really known for being friendly to kids, or most genin for that matter."

The Ice Queen of Konoha was using her analytic voice, and she really wasn't trying to be mean to her friend. She was right though, on both points. If she were to take in Naruto, their combined reputation would be horrible, and she wasn't really fond of children. However, these were the wrong details to focus on.

Anko knew better than to take what Kurenai said directly. She might have been using her analytic voice, but there was always more to it than that when she was involved.

Anko shook her head at her friend, following her into her house and closing the door behind her. "I'll be fine, Nai-chan. And you're going to have to be more persuasive if you want to take care of him as practice before you get busy with Asuma." She finished with a smirk and a teasing voice.

With Anko's last words, Kurenai blushed lightly and shook her head at her friend. "That's not what this is about! Anko, taking care of a kid is a huge responsibility, and with all of the life threatening missions you take, every day you spend with him might be your last. Yes, if you go through with this, helping you take care of him would help me for the future, but everything you've done, everything you've worked for, will have been for nothing."

Anko gritted her teeth in anger. Her friend meant good, but she wasn't doing any. She was insulted by her friend, the person that was supposed to be there for her when she needed her most. And now that she did, she wasn't there for her. "Then so be it!" She practically shouted. "He is a time bomb, Kurenai! He's smiled his way through every cruel and painful day, but what happens when he snaps? All of the anger that the village had showed him will be returned tenfold and with the rage of the Kyūbi to go along with it! I can't let that happen. I can't let him turn into what I almost was." She finished in a whisper, and her eyes were fixed on the ground as she thought back to when she had almost fully become the deadly and bloodthirsty woman everyone believed that she was. Of course, she was actually like that, but not to the extent that she showed everyone.

It was silent for a few minutes, and Kurenai simply stared at her best friend. After some time, Kurenai smiled at Anko put a hand on her shoulder. She didn't say anything, but her smile told Anko that she was going to help her however she could.

Kurenai saw the fire in her eyes when she spoke. Anko truly wanted the boy to be happy, and she was willing to give up everything she had worked on for his happiness. The Ice Queen knew that she and Yugao saved Anko from becoming an insane sadist. She had seen the boy a few times and every time she passed him she would always see him smile and walk through the streets like the glares and whispers didn't exist. Only Kami knows what would happen if he were to snap.

Even the Kyūbi would run when a good man goes to war.

"Asuma's going to be surprised in the future when he sees how well I take care of children." Kurenai said quietly, getting a smile from Anko.

"That's if you stop crushing on him and make a move." Anko replied with a smirk. She knew how her friend could be some times.

Kurenai sighed and kept her eyes locked onto Anko's. Her friend was truly willing to throw everything away for the boy, even though she had only just met him the day before. "You know, as a friend, I can't let you go through something like this half-assed. I needed to see for myself that you were truly willing to do this." She knew her friend well, and there were a few times that she had acted without thinking beforehand. She just wanted to make sure that this wasn't one of those times.

"Thank you. I'd love to talk more, but I'm expected somewhere soon. I'll see you later." Anko did want to talk more to her friend, but there wasn't really much else to talk about considering that not much had happened recently other than what was already said. Even if she did continue her conversation, she believed that she shouldn't speak about the Hokage telling her to meet her at the Hokage mansion to speak about secrets involving Naruto and whatever family gave birth to him. If the Hokage wanted this to be spoken in one of the safest buildings in Konoha, then anything more than what she already said shouldn't be spoken out loud.

Kurenai also wanted to talk a bit more, hoping to find out what Anko planned on doing with a child, especially one as young and impressionable as Naruto. Hopefully the boy wouldn't turn out as crazy as her now-stepmother, but it was completely possible. The tone that Anko used told the genjutsu mistress that, while whatever she was doing was important, and should probably not leave the mouths of the people discussing it, Anko would bring it up to her is she really needed to. If she didn't then she would learn in time along with the rest of their friends.

The two young women walked out of the house, and Kurenai waited for Anko to lock the place down before speaking up.

"Well, I'll see you later then." She said, giving her friend an honest smile. "You'll be that boy's world, you know." She said as she walked off, only barely being able to see the honest smile that her friend gave back to her before she headed off as well.

Minutes later, Anko arrived at the Hokage mansion. The building was not far off from the Academy and the Hospital, and looked quite similar, in fact. The main thing that stood out were the two guards who stood in front of the place. While normally the Hokage's residence would be under the protection of seals and the Hokage him or herself, Hiruzen lived in the Sarutobi clan house, and not the mansion. He needed the forbidden scrolls to be watched at all times, because he was not normally around.

Upon reaching the gates, Anko was faced with two ANBU guards, who both wore armor that, while build exactly the same, was colored different to make them stand out among others. These were special ANBU who guarded the Mansion, who were above the usual cut and were tasked with guarding the secrets of Konoha.

As she walked up to the two of them, both ANBU stood perfectly still until she was only a few feet away from them. Once she was close enough, they both moved to the sides of the front gate and opened it for her. She didn't even have a chance to speak, as they talked first.

"Hokage-sama ordered for us to let you in when you get here." The one to her right spoke. She opened her mouth, but was cut off by the one to her left.

"It'll be just you and him talking. Other ANBU will put multiple seals around the room and the rest of the house so that nobody can listen in." The other one spoke. Anko nodded her head and opened her mouth once more, only to get cut off again.

"When it concerns Naruto-san, Hokage-sama is willing to go to great lengths, as a way to apologize for how he's been treated in the past." She nodded once again, and didn't even mother opening her mouth, as she expect for them to talk again to answer the last question in her head.

She stood there for a full minute, not uttering a single word; the ANBU did also.

She believed she was safe, and opened her mouth again.

"Body language and common sense, Anko-san." The ANBU answered together, both wearing unseen smiles on their masked faces.

Without a word, Anko simply huffed and walked through the gates, hearing the masked nin trying to hide their laughter from her. She was sure that they thought that she was going to do something to them, and they were right.

As she stepped into the building, two screams could be heard behind her, as well as some inhuman hissing.

Anko hadn't been in the Hokage Mansion before, or the Sarutobi clan house. She hadn't had any reason to visit the Hokage or his family in his own time. The building itself was clean and dustless. It was odd considering that the Hokage didn't use the place all that much unless he was going through one of the forbidden scrolls, which never happened, to the place was untouched, with the exception of the ANBU who didn't leave any traces of their presence.

The main room was what she expected. Rather large with space to fit a few people from each of the main clans at once. It could almost be considered some sort of a party or meeting room, due to the space and the seating.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was sitting down at one of the end seats, sipping on what could have been either Sake or some sort of really dark tea. The old man looked up upon hearing Anko walk in, and kept a soft gaze on her as she took in the area. Once she processed his presence, he smiled at the young woman and stood up, placing the cup down on the table in front of him.

"Hello Anko, I see the guards are keeping themselves entertained?" He asked rhetorically, knowing by the screams of pain he had heard only seconds ago was her doing.

Anko smiled and chuckled nervously, all while scratching the back of her head. "They're pretty good at their job. I'm not usually an easy person to see through." She said, respect for them hidden in her words as she glanced behind her.

Hiruzen chuckled as well, and motioned for her to follow him while he went into another room. She wordlessly nodded and followed, watching as the old man took long and calm strides to wherever they were heading to.

"So, can I ask what this is all about? I mean, the paper the lett-"

"When we activate the seals, then you can begin your questions." The Hokage cut her off, not even looking back at her as he led her through a maze of hallways, ending at a room that was at the end of a hallway.

Hiruzen slowly opened the door and walked through it, motioning for Anko to come through as well. He didn't need to, but it acted as a signal to tell her that they were where they were supposed to be at. As predicted, she followed and entered the door before he did, allowing him to close the door behind them both.

There was a small pause between the door closing and the Hokage actually speaking. During the pause, a small pulse of chakra was emitted by one of the ANBU to tell him that the seals were in place and he could talk freely to Anko without worry of people overhearing their conversation.

Breaking the silence, Hiruzen started first.

"Anko, what I am about to tell you is of the upmost importance. Until it is revealed to the public by myself, you are not allowed to tell anyone about anything that it spoken about in this room, do you understand?" He used a tone of authority that he didn't use often, showing the true ninja that he still was inside of an old man's body.

Anko nodded to the village leader and stayed silent, allowing for him to continue speaking.

"In the paper that you signed, signing over Naruto-kun over to you, it stated that you will be given a seat on the council. I have no doubt in my mind that section of the paper had been running through your head, at least for a little while." At this, Anko just continued to nod.

"It also stated that he will get all of his clan items once he reached the rank of Chunin or reaches the age of consent, if he does not choose to be a ninja." Hiruzen highly doubted that Naruto wouldn't be a ninja, as it was in his blood to do so.

"Naruto does have a clan, Anko. In fact, he actually has two." The old monkey stated, causing Anko's eyes to go wide.

She assumed as much, considering that the part about the clans wouldn't be in the paper if he didn't belong to one. But she couldn't believe that he had TWO clans! With that kind of position, he could be as important as the Hyuuga clan or the Uchiha clan! Her hands clenched in anger as she looked at the ground, scowling fiercely at the hardwood floor underneath her. She couldn't believe it. He had the power of two clans and Hiruzen was making him leave off the streets!

"Why…" She choked out, trying to keep herself from lashing out at the old man, who just stood there, unchanging.

"Why are you LETTING HIM LIVE LIKE THIS!?" She shouted at her leader, unable to hold back the rage she currently had for him.

It had only been a day, but that boy had in fact managed to become her world. She didn't know how it happened, and she didn't question it. His image gave her clarity, power over the curse mark that echoed dark whisperings throughout her mind. He was her hope.

Hiruzen simply looked down; a frown on his wrinkly face as he thought about what the boy had been through.

"I will explain." He said quietly, lifting his head a moment later to look at the enraged and hurt Anko. She gave him the look that told him that she would attempt to kill him if he didn't start explaining.

"Take in Naruto's appearance and attitude. Think back on every moment you saw of him." He stated to her, his face going neutral once more. "Who _looks_ like he does, and who _acts_ like he does?"

Anko tried her best to calm herself down. She needed to think about this, think about all the times she had seen and heard Naruto. His sun kissed blond hair, his eyes that were as blue as the ocean, filled with curiosity and wonder. He shouted about becoming Hokage, and if he wasn't doing that, he was stuffing his face with Ramen noodles from the Ichiraku Ramen stand. He was as stubborn as a bull with the intelligence to match, but at times he could be unnaturally smart and understanding. He never stopped doing what he loved, and followed his heart. There were a number of people who had those characteristics, but one face made everything click in her head.

"The Yondaime…" She whispered, her eyes wide once more. It all made sense. He was married to Kushina, who shared the Uzumaki Name. Her clan had a spot on the council since Uzushio was decimated and brought to ruins. It didn't last long, as once Kushina died and Naruto took her name, the immediately removed her seat from the council to keep Naruto from getting his hopes up. Minato Namikaze's name was brought to clan status once he became a Hokage, as he wasn't a part of a clan beforehand.

Anko didn't know either of them personally, but she had talked to them on occasion.

Naruto looked just like his father, and acted like his mother. It was odd how nobody had noticed it before. Shikaku probably knew about it taking his intelligence into account, but probably didn't care when taking his laziness into account as well.

Hiruzen nodded slowly and looked at Anko with a small smile. He knew that she understood now, that he had reasoning behind not bringing Naruto's heritage into light. Being the child of the man who killed countless Iwa shinobi and no doubt many more, and the woman who was the remnants of a great clan and village of sealing-masters, who was also gifted with the ability to use chakra chains, there would be a high price on his head in the eyes of any shinobi.

The Hokage decided that this would be a good time to bring Anko back into the physical world, and began to speak. "He would be one of the most wanted shinobi in the world if that were to get out, which is why I never brought up his heritage to him before."

Anko's head snapped to face Hiruzen, staying quiet so that he could continue speaking.

"If I were to tell everyone about his heritage, especially at this young age, the entire village would be at his beck and call, willing to do anything for him simply because he is the son of the Yondaime. There is a great chance that it would make him arrogant, and use his family name as a means to get what he wants. The civilians of the village would throw themselves at him as a way to apologize, and most likely see you unfit for raising him. They do not see what I see, what most of the Shinobi on the council see. He is not a demon child, and he is not the Namikaze heir. He is Naruto Uzumaki. He is who he is because of what he has done and what he has seen, not because of whom he is related to. I believe that you will do well in helping him stay leveled when his heritage is revealed."

His speech made Anko feel a little better about the situation. As she wasn't from a council clan, she would be one of the best choices for being the parent of Naruto. He and Anko would have to worry about clan problems and things now, but they wouldn't be on his head until he was ready to take over. She could also bring a somewhat new perspective into the view of the people on the council. Half of the council consisted of Shinobi, so just about every perspective was already seen and considered, but her actions and decisions could be overlooked much more easily because she wasn't from a clan herself, and had no clan experience beforehand. In a way, they had Political freedom in most situations. She knew the rules and laws that applied to being a Konoha nin, and she had to abide by those like everyone else, but she didn't know or understand the unspoken political rules; she never and any want, desire, or need to know them. She was being placed on the spot as the temporary matriarch of the Uzumaki and Namikaze clans, and was to be given leeway in the political world because of it. Naruto was just a boy. He probably wouldn't be able to understand it even if he wanted to, and therefore was given freedom from politics as well.

There was another pause, but it wasn't Hiruzen who spoke next. With the topic of Naruto and the clans, Anko decided to keep with that and asked a related question.

"When will the public know?" She asked the Hokage, curious to know what his new plan for going about this was.

"I will tell the Shinobi council during their next meeting, not at the joint meeting where the council can have their say. The ninja clans will be much more understanding than the civilian ones, and they will know along with the rest of the public in a few months. That will give you and Naruto-kun time to get used to living with each other." At this, Anko nodded her head. She didn't know that the old monkey already had a specific date for revealing his heritage to the world.

For another few minutes, the room as deathly silent. The information that was given out had gravity, and neither of the ninja in the room could pull their thoughts away from it. Anko didn't know what else to say any more, but Hiruzen had one last thing to say to his now surrogate daughter.

"Anko. You know how important Naruto is to me, much more so now than before because of what was recently said. I'm not telling you as your Hokage, but I'm asking you as an old grandfather. Please, show Naruto the kind of love and compassion that they village has denied it. Kami knows that he could use it."

Anko smiled at the old man and glanced at the door. Like before, she didn't have anything else to say, and didn't think that she could say anything that wouldn't ruin what kind words the old man had told her.

Hiruzen looked at the door as well, and was sure that nothing more needed to be said at the moment. This was a hard pill to swallow, and after everything that had happened in the last two days, Anko needed some rest and time to think about everything, as well as prepare for the major change in her life that was already happening. Hiruzen sent out a wave of chakra to tell the ANBU to disable the seals, and only a few seconds later he felt a wave of chakra telling him that the seals were inactive. He walked over to the door and opened it, motioning for Anko to walk through.

She did as she was told and walked out of the room, weaving through the hallways next to the Hokage so that the two of them could head home and get some rest.

Once they reached the main door, Hiruzen and Anko were surprised to see a medic-nin standing at the door.

From her appearance, she was on edge about something, and had presumably just ran from the hospital to the mansion. She panted lightly as she held onto a clipboard of some sort, that was facing towards her body so that the Hokage and the Snake Mistress couldn't see what was on the other side.

"Is everything alright? You look a little winded." The Hokage spoke up, curiosity obvious in his voice.

"Hokage-sama. I have news about the Uzumaki boy that was left in our care. Something happened to him." She spoke urgently, knowing that the Hokage would want to know about this as soon as possible. People knew how he took watched over the boy, and anything concerning him would be brought to the Hokage first.

"What about Naruto?" Anko asked, now a little worried as well since it did involve the boy that she was now taking care of. Hers and the Hokage's eyes would only widen in shock once hearing what the medic-nin had to say.

"He's missing."

**Hello once again, everybody!**

**I'm ending this chapter with another cliffy, so…. Kind-of-sorry-but-not-really-sorry about that. Hana will be included in the next chapter, so look forward to her. I also want to apologize for taking so long. This has been the chapter that I've edited the most, and I'm really happy with how it came out. **

**Reviews are appreciated as always!**

**Until next time!**


	6. The Hunt

The Hokage and Anko were shocked to hear what the medic-nin told them. They couldn't believe it. Not only was he missing, but neither of the ANBU assigned to him reported in about it. Instead, some random worker at the hospital told them about his disappearance. They could only wonder what happened to the three of them, but their imaginations didn't drift far off due to Hiruzen speaking.

"Anko, get to Naruto's house and wait there. I'll send an Inuzuka over to you so that Naruto-kun can be tracked." Soon after he spoke, the old man released a wave of Chakra, signaling a nearby ANBU to their location. It was one of the special ANBU, as they were right next to the Hokage mansion.

"What do you need, Hokage-sama?" The ANBU spoke, his dragon mask unmoving.

"Go to the Inuzuka clan and have Tsume meet Anko at Naruto's house. She should already know the way." He ordered the ANBU, who bowed to his leader and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

The old man simply glanced at Anko before watching her take off to Naruto's house. She knew where it was because she had visited it once earlier in the day as a way to pass time.

"Whatever happened, we will find you Naruto."

-several minutes earlier-

"Hokage-sama is going to kill us."

"Not if Anko does it first."

"Maybe they'll take turns beating us to death."

Two masked ANBU jumped from rooftop to rooftop as they tailed a figure in front of them. He was unbelievably fast for his age and size, but it was probably due to all of the exercise he got from constantly running around. Not to mention that he had slipped away from the two on more than one occasion during their little chase.

The one with the cat mask shook her head as she continued to run.

"No. Anko would torture us slowly and painfully, and then Hokage-sama would bring out an amazing jutsu to finish us off in the most gruesome way possible for allowing this to happen."

That was most likely the best case scenario, with the worst case having them bot being tortured and beaten by snakes and apes while being told to take better care of Naruto, being left with an inch of their lives so that they could recover and have the whole process be repeated again and again.

No, it could probably get much worse than that.

They had to move their focus away from the possible ways that they could be tortured and over to the person who was just in front of them, but wasn't any more. One moment he was on the rooftops like the ANBU were, but he suddenly disappeared from their line of sight. He probably dropped down into the streets below. While they now had the high ground, the person they were chasing could maneuver through the alleyways and crowds. He had a fair amount of knowledge of all the shortcuts and places that one could hide at, and his size allowed for him to fit just about anywhere.

It was far too late for them to find Naruto and bring him back without any worries. They had been chasing the figure that was previously in front of them for several minutes now, and somebody was sure to notice that Naruto and his guards were in his room.

The two ANBU dropped down to the streets below as well, and had just dropped down in time to see the head of hair that they were looking for in a sea of brown, black, and other colors. They smirked under their masks and continued to chase after him.

People seeing him and the ANBU run through the streets simply assumed that he had done something wrong like usual, and didn't form the usual riot. It was odd, but appreciated by both the chased and the chasers.

Not long after, they had managed to chase him into a denser part of the village, with thinner roads and several more dead ends. They knew that the chase was almost over. His movements were beginning to get a little slower, and he didn't take every twist and turn available to him as well. They had to end this and capture him so that they could get Naruto and bring him back to the hospital.

"Stop so we can end this!" Yugao called out ahead of her. The person simply smirked and made an effort to move faster.

"Not a chance! You'll have to capture me!" He shouted back, the smirked never leaving his face as he continued to run, jumping back up to the rooftops to give himself a little space.

Kakashi and Yugao continued to tail him, both sighing inwardly as they should have known that he wouldn't go back without a struggle.

Kakashi threw several kunai in front of him. He wasn't trying to hit the person he was chasing. He was hoping that they would become an obstacle to him, and make him either slow down or trip.

As he planned, the person in front of them tripped over one of the kunai that had lightly dug itself into the roof, and caused him to fall over and back down onto the ground. He was good, but not good enough.

The person grunted as they hit the ground, glaring at the two figures who appeared before him.

"That's not fair! You can't use Kunai!"

Yugao shook her head at him, taking an unnoticed glance at Kakashi.

"We can use any techniques at our disposal. You should be lucky I didn't decide to use my sword. That's a part of the rules." Yugao said, getting a nod from Kakashi.

"Yeah. That's how it goes, and you could have been off much worse." He said to the person on the ground, who still looked up at them with anger.

"You guys didn't say anything about rules!" He shouted at them as he got up, brushing himself off.

"Well, this _is_ ninja tag. Even you should know how it goes, future Hokage-sama." Yugao said in an uncharacteristically kind and somewhat mocking voice.

Kakashi nodded once more and looked around. It might have been too enclosed to see the sun, but the lighting of the area said what needed to be said. "And the sun hasn't gone down before you were captured, so we can't talk to the real Hokage-sama about letting you out of the hospital." He said, looking back down at the person in front of him.

He was silent. He didn't want to accept his fate. He knew that he was beaten up pretty badly this time, and he knew that the Hokage would keep him up in the room for a month until he decided that he was healthy enough to move around again. He looked up in mild surprise when he felt a hand on his shoulder, which came from Yugao.

"Don't make this harder than it needs to be, Naruto. Hokage-sama and Anko are probably worried sick. We didn't leave them a note or anything saying that we'd be with you. Let's get going." She took her hand off of his shoulder and began to walk back to the hospital, and was followed by Kakashi and eventually Naruto himself.

A little more than two hours ago, Naruto had woken up. He didn't know all the details about what happened, but he knew that he was beaten up and someone came to save him. Kakashi and Yugao filled him in on everything else, and deeply apologized to him for what they had done, or what they hadn't done. He accepted their apologies and asked them if he could leave the hospital, as he was feeling much better thanks to the healing of the Kyūbi, added with his own Uzumaki blood.

They had told him that they didn't have any say when it came to releasing him from the hospital, and only the Hokage and the doctors and nurses assigned to him could do anything about that. After sever minutes of complaining about it, a deal was made between the three. If Naruto could last until after the sun sets in a game of ninja tag, then Kakashi and Yugao would talk to the Hokage about possibly letting Naruto out of the hospital. If not, then Naruto would owe each of them a favor to be done some time in the future.

Looking back, neither of them knew why they agreed to it. They could get in serious trouble for giving the Hokage a scare involving Naruto, not to mention what Anko would probably do if he had gotten injured again. Luckily, he wasn't, and the bruise that he had gotten from the fall disappeared in only a few minutes.

Hopefully the Hokage and Anko would have mercy on their souls.

-present time-

The dragon masked guard of the Hokage appeared at the Inuzuka clan ground and knocked on the door to the main home. It did not take long for someone to open the door, and young woman there was quite surprised at seeing an ANBU at her home.

The girl looked at the ANBU curiously and took a step back, allowing for him to come in. "What do you need, ANBU-san?" She asked politely, something uncommon for an Inuzuka to do.

The ANBU simply stood where he was and looked at the girl before him. She had the marks of an Inuzuka, but she didn't look as feral as the others. She had a _Konohagakure_ headband wrapped around her waist as a belt, telling him that she was at least a genin.

"Hokage-sama needs Tsume Inuzuka to help in tracking down someone. It's an order by the Hokage." He said monotonously, as per the usual with him.

The Inuzuka girl looked up at the ANBU and shook her head. "Kaa-san is out on a mission right now. I can help, though! The triplets are really good at tracking!"

She looked into her home and whistled, causing three pups to scramble to their master. She then looked back at the ANBU and gave him a nod of assurance. "Lead the way."

Ryu stayed quiet for a moment, internally deciding on whether or not to take Tsume's daughter to the Uzumaki house in place of Tsume. She should have to do.

The ANBU nodded back and began to run at a pace that the Inuzuka girl was capable of. It was still fairly fast, but it wasn't the ANBU's top speed. The three dogs all climbed onto the girl in various spots and held on as she began to run as well. It was a good pace for her, and she was glad that the ANBU was going that slow for her.

In little time, they arrived at the Uzumaki house. The Inuzuka girl had never been near this specific house before, as it's old and beaten up appearance would have told her if she had been there before.

When she got there, she noticed that there was a woman waiting in front of the door. She appeared impatient, almost frantic, and familiar as well.

It didn't take long for her to recognize the older woman that was not in front of him. "Anko-san!" She said with surprise.

Anko couldn't have mistaken the girl for anyone else, and was truly assured when she heard her voice. "Wow, what a surprise." There was no sarcasm in her words, as she was actually feeling surprised inside. "Where's Tsume?" She asked, her franticness being heard in her voice.

"She's out on a mission. I'm the next best thing!" She wanted to assure these people that she was ready to do whatever the Hokage needed her mother to do.

Anko sighed inwardly. She had to get to know more people than the three people she was always around. She was already on good terms with Tsume, so becoming friends with her shouldn't be too hard.

"Alright, let's go. I need your pups to find Uzumaki Naruto, and as fast as possible There's a whole bunch of stuff in his place than we can use for his scent." Anko told the Inuzuka girl as she practically kicked down the door. It was already beaten up, and he wasn't going to be living there any longer, so it wasn't really a problem for her.

Hana tilted her head in confusion and slight worry. "I don't think it's good to just break into his house, even if it is a means to find him."

Anko shrugged her shoulder and began to walk around, looking at things and wondering what would be the best thing to get his scent from. "It doesn't matter. I'm his parent now, and he's moving out of this dump as soon as possible."

Hana just sighed and kept the triplets from going wild in a completely unmarked place. It had so many smells, but two of them stood out to her. Ramen and blood.

"Aha!" Anko shouted, holding one of the several identical jumpsuits that Naruto had in his wardrobe. She handed it over to Hana who took it and offered it to the Haimaru triplets, who sniffed the outfit several times before jumping off of Hana and yipping as they ran out of the house.

"They already have his scent, let's go!" Hana commanded, surprising Anko slightly. The two of them, along with the dragon ANBU, followed the pups all through the village to find a certain blonde haired hero.

The three ninja chased after the three pups as they followed a strong scent. The individual scents that mixed together to smell like Naruto were already strong on their own, but even more so when mixed together.

The ran past the ramen stand, through several streets and alleyways, and over the rooftops.

"Whoever had Naruto was being chased." Hana noted as they ran.

Anko nodded and followed the Inuzuka and her pups. "No normal person would run in this pattern otherwise."

There was a moment of silence between the two women, but Hana spoke up so that things wouldn't be awkwardly silent. "Anko-san, you said something about now being Naruto's guardian?" She inquired, not knowing that a woman, who was probably around the age of twenty, had a child of her own.

Anko nodded to the girl. They had only just met earlier that day, and she had only vaguely heard about Anko from her mother, so there was a lot of unknown information about her in the eyes of Hana. "Yeah. I officially became his parent this morning. I thought that I'd have a few days to get ready for this, but something just _had_ to happen."

Hana nodded. She understood the situation somewhat, but not all that much because of her age. She had heard about Naruto from her mother as well, but wasn't sure what to make of him because of Tsume's reaction. When Hana heard her mother talking about the boy, she seemed angry, and was muttering something about the Hokage and the Council. If she would have focused more, she could have remembered what she said, but she wasn't all that interested at the time.

Shortly after, the pups began to pick up speed. Hana knew this as a sign of them getting closer to their target. "Almost there." She said to the two older ninja around her, letting them know that they were close.

The group of six dropped back down into the streets and continued to run, but the path that they were running in was much straighter than before. It was odd, for the kidnapper to suddenly change tactics like that instead of continuing to weave around to make it harder to be tracked.

The Haimaru brothers jumped up into the air and tackled someone, bring them to the ground. The person who had just been tackled by three small dogs was standing next to two other people, who simply looked down at the third member, their reactions hidden by a still face. The three pups didn't weigh all that much on their own, but together, they were able to tackle the small person they were tracking. The pups began to lick the person underneath them, moving all around as he laughed.

"H-hey! Get off of me!" He managed to get out. He looked up at his two companions and continued to laugh. "Help me out here!"

Soon, the three ninja caught up to the dogs, and were surprised to see what was going on. The Haimaru triplets were on top of Naruto, licking and smelling him all over. The boy was laughed uncontrollably, and the two ANBU assigned to watch over him were standing at his sides, simply watching him and the dogs.

Hana thought that the little blonde boy being _attacked_ by her pups was simply the cutest thing in the world, and sighed with a smile on her face as he stood a few feet away from him.

Anko on the other hand was relieved to see him doing well, and without a single scratch on his body. She knew that his Uzumaki blood and the Kyūbi made him heal much faster than normal people, but it hadn't even been twenty four hours yet and he was perfectly fine.

Anko stopped next to Hana, and Dragon stopped next to her. The snake mistress glared at the two ANBU who were currently as scared as physically possible. "Can someone please tell me what's going on?" She asked in a sickly sweet voice, only scaring kakashi and Yugao more.

Hana whistled and commanded the triplets to come back to her, which they did almost instantly.

Slowly, Naruto stood up, looking at Anko curiously.

**"That's her."**

"Her?" Naruto asked aloud.

The Kyūbi shook his head from inside the cage and continued to look through Naruto's eyes. **"Think, don't speak. You'll make these people think that we're even crazier than they already probably think."**

Naruto nodded his head and thought his words in his mind. _"Like this?_" He asked his tenant, who nodded in conformation.

**"Yes. You and I will talk like this. That woman, the crazy one; she's the one who saved you the other night. I believe you owe her thanks."**

Naruto stepped up to Anko and looked at her curiously. "You're the lady who saved me?" He asked her, truly wondering if this wasn't just some sort of trick.

Anko smirked and looked down at the boy, pointing to herself with her thumb. "That's right! I, Mitarashi Anko, saved you from the villagers! No need to thank m-woah!" She said in surprise as she looked down at the boy who was now hugging her legs with an astounding amount of force.

"Thank you, thank you!" He chanted out loud. He had done the same thing for the two ANBU when he first found out that they were watching over him. There was an astonishing low about of people in the entire village that actually saw the boy as something other than the demon fox.

Anko looked down at him, but with less surprise than before. "Naruto, can you tell me what's going on here? And why you and these two are out here and not at the hospital?" Her voice started off as normal, but went back to that sickly sweet tone as she neared the end of her question. The ANBU were scared once again, and said nothing as they stood there.

Slowly, Naruto let go of Anko and looked back at Kakashi and Yugao. "Well, I woke up a little while ago, and they told me what happened, and that you saved me. I was feeling good and I wasn't hurting, so I wanted to go out! They said that I couldn't, but I said that if I can play ninja tag with them until sunset, then they'll talk to Jiji about letting me go home!" He explained to her the situation, getting the two ANBU assigned to naruto to sigh in relief.

He then pouted and glanced at the Neko and Inu masks before looking back at Anko. "But they cheated and used kunai to make me trip and fall off the roof." He said, pointing his fingers accusingly at the two of them, who began to sweat once more.

Hana and Dragon simply watched the sight before them. Hana didn't think that a little boy like that could be too much trouble. He looked like a lost pup that just wanted a home.

Anko sighed and cast her glare at the two ANBU. "So, you two _let_ him out of the hospital, without telling anyone, because of a bet?!" She yelled at them, her glare becoming fierce. It then changed to a smirk as the turned away. "Dolphin is sure going to hear about this."

Yugao then got on her knees and looked up at Anko. "Please Anko! He'd kill us for this!" She begger her friend. It wasn't like her at all, but in truth, Anko and Dolphin scared her a little.

"What do we have to do to keep this quiet?" Kakashi asked, standing still and looked at his snake using friend.

"You two will be helping me train Naruto." She said with confidence. She didn't plan this, but her attitude made it seem like she did.

Kakashi shrugged and nodded, both saying "Fine!" Simultaneously.

Naruto looked up at Anko, curiosity still in his eyes. "Train?" He asked her.

Anko nodded and knelt down to the boy, getting on the same level that he was. "Yeah, train! A Hokage has to be a great ninja right?" She asked rhetorically, but still getting a nod from Naruto. "Well, you've already taken the first few steps by managing to outrun Dog-face and Neko here." She ruffled his hair and stood back up.

"Let's talk to the Hokage so we can head home."

The sun had fully set, and the sky was now being coated in a dark blue. It was starting to get late, and a group of five ninja, one boy, and three dogs, were walking through the streets of Konoha.

Naruto and Anko walked up in front, and behind them were Hana and Dragon. Yugao and Kakashi went back to hiding, watching over Naruto like they were supposed to. The Haimaru triplets were resting on Naruto's head and shoulders. They had taken quite a liking to him; it seemed, as they were fairly happy resting on him as he walked. Hana thought it was a cute sight to see a little boy with her pups, and almost didn't want to ask for them back when she had to go. Almost.

Anko didn't tell Naruto what she meant by 'we', when she said that they would go home, and she only said that it was a surprise for when the Hokage officially released him from the hospital. He was persistent about knowing though, and continued to ask her about it until they reached the Hokage Mansion.

"Can you pleeeeease tell me!?"

"Nope."

"Pleaseeeeeeee?!"

Anko sighed in annoyance. If he didn't stop, she would tell him right there to shut him up. Luckily, they had just reached the Hokage mansion.

The old man was standing in front of the mansion like he had been when they had gotten news about Naruto being missing. He looked at the group as it approached, and smiled at the sight of Naruto next to Anko. He would have preferred to not see the two of them arguing, but he was happy seeing him safe and sound.

When they got close, the group stopped in front of the village leader to hear what he would have to say.

Hiruzen first looked at Dragon, who looked back at the old man. "Thank you for helping, Dragon. You're dismissed." Dragon nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Hiruzen then looked at Hana with curiosity, tilting his head slightly at the sight of her and not her mother. "Hana, I'm thankful that you brought Naruto back, but can I ask about your mother? I asked for Dragon to get her."

Hana nodded and bowed slightly. "Sorry, but she was out on a mission. Tracking a lost relative outside of Konoha." She explained to the village leader, who nodded and smiled.

"Thank you, Hana. You will be paid B-rank money for this mission."

Hana bowed again and looked up at the old money. "Is there anything else, Hokage-sama?" She asked him, getting him to shake his head at her.

"No, but if you would like to stay, you can. You're pups seem to have taken a liking to Naruto-kun." He said, glancing at the blonde boy who still carried the pups on his shoulders and head. Naruto smiled at Hana and glanced at the two on his shoulder.

"They're so cool!" He said somewhat quietly, knowing that the pups were either close to falling asleep or already there. This made Hana laugh a little, who just nodded at the boy and watched him looked at the ninken with amazement.

Hiruzen then looked up at the sky expectantly, and glanced at some nearby trees. "Inu, Neko. Please Explain."

The two ANBU agents appeared in front of the Hokage and bowed to him, quietly saying "Hai Hokage-sama" at the same time.

Yugao was the first to speak up. "Hokage-sama. A few hours ago, Naruto woke up and attempted to leave the room. We redirected him to his bed, but he insisted that he was fine and that he should be let go from the hospital. We managed to strike up a bet around a game of ninja tag, where he would stay the hospital and wait if he was to lose, and we would talk to you about releasing him if he won." She explained most of the situation, but left out the part where Naruto would owe them a favor if he lost.

Kakashi picked up where she left off. "We didn't expect for him to be as fast as he was. I can honestly say that he could outrun us with us going at a fairly fast pace. We only caught him because I used kunai to make him trip. If it was just running, he probably would have won." That boy had stamina like no other. Even ANBU get tired at some point, but when ANBU fell down after hours of rigorous training, Naruto would still be going at it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was silent for several minutes. He was sure that Kakashi and Yugao would be punished in some way for allowing Naruto to leave his hospital room without notifying anyone beforehand, but they had just graded the boy on endurance and possibly resourcefulness. He could truly become a devastating ninja in the future with the help of Anko, Kakashi, Yugao, and everything left by Kushina and Minato.

The old man looked down at his surrogate-grandson and smiled at him. He had made his decision, and he hoped that Anko was ready for it. "Naruto-kun." He said calmly.

Naruto looked up at the Hokage with curious blue eyes. "Yes, Jiji?" He said back.

"What are your thoughts on Anko?" It was a rather sudden question, as Naruto had only just met her, taking under consideration that he could hardly hear or see anything the other night when she saved him.

The little boy hummed in thought for a whole minute. She seemed like a nice person from what she had said to him, and she seemed pretty cool if she could make Inu and Neko fear her in an instant. Her devious eyes and dangerous smirk are what hooked him, though. She would be a great person to pull pranks with. "I like her Jiji! She's really cool!"

The elder Sarutobi chuckled a little and glanced at Anko before returning his gaze to the boy. "Well Naruto-kun. How would you like to live with Anko? You'll get to stay with her in her house, and you'll also have another house where you can learn more about clans and someday taking my hat."

Naruto couldn't have been happier at the moment. Not only did he now have two cool houses where he could learn to become Hokage, but he also had a mom. She looked a little young to be a mother, even in his eyes, but he believed that she could do it. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" He said aloud, his eyes watering with happiness as he jumped in the air, accidentally causing one of the pups to fall off of his shoulder. He caught the pup, and put him back on his shoulder.

Hana, seeing one of the triplet falling off and being caught, was scared for a moment, but was relieved to see that the sleeping ninken didn't hit the ground.

Naruto turned around and looked at Hana, who just smiled and waved at him. He smiled back, but walked up to the genin girl and took the pup off of his head and held it out to her. "Sorry about letting them fall asleep. Here you go!" He handed her the other two once she had put the first one on her head, and the other two went on her shoulders like how they were with Naruto. She girl just shook her head and smiled.

"No worries! They seem to like you a fair bit. Maybe you can head over to the compound and see them again some time!" She said to Naruto, who jumped in joy and nodded. Hana then looked at the Hokage and bowed slightly, being careful not to make the pups fall. "It's getting late, and I need to make sure by brother doesn't get into trouble. Goodbye, Hokage-sama." She said just as she left, only barely being able to see the old man wave back to her.

Anko smiled at Naruto and ruffled his hair, getting him to place his attention back onto her. A split second later, Naruto was attached to her legs again, constantly thanking her. He had no intentions of stopping soon, and Anko just ruffled his hair again before looking at the Hokage.

"So, can I take him home? He looks all healed up." Anko said, glancing down at Naruto once more.

Hiruzen looked at Naruto as well, and smiled at the boy before returning his gaze to Anko. "Only if you're ready. If not, he can stay at the hospital for a few more days."

Anko laughed a little and shook her head. She stayed quiet for a little so that she could hear Naruto slowing down. His grip was getting weaker as well. She could tell that the affects of a day of running around were starting to get to him. "I'll be fine, Hokage-sama. I'm just happy I could make him smile like this."

The young woman then looked down and smiled at Naruto before removing him from her legs. She could see that he was sad at being removed, but looked up at her in childlike curiosity.

"Alright Gaki, let's go home."

**Yes! Five thousand words this chapter and I'm feeling good! I hope I surprised all of you with this chapter, and if I didn't then I'm going to have to work harder next time around.**

**Anko and Naruto are finally united, and his training on becoming a ninja will start soon. **

**Just so that you guys know, I will be doing a few small time skips, but not too many, as there is an event that I want to cover that happens before the team formations.**

**Also, I just want to say that Sasuke isn't going to be arrogant in this story. Thing will happen that will make him what I believe to be a better person.**

**As always, reviews are appreciated. **

**Until next time!**


	7. The Friends

Naruto was the happiest person in the ninja world at the moment. He had just gained a new friend and a new mother all in the same day. He now had a friend to play around with, and a mother that was all his. He finally had people other than the Hokage and the Ichiraku family that cared for him, and he couldn't be happier.

Anko was happy as well. Naruto's smile and attitude were infectious, and made everyone around him feel better. She was happy because he was happy. His life was finally going to get better.

The two walked in relative silence, as the boy was too excited to even speak at the moment. All he could do was walk forward and smile like a maniac. He squealed and jumped around, but didn't speak. His hand was in hers as they walked side-by-side, not caring about any of the people glancing at them with hate. Most of the looks were actually out of curiosity, not of anger. They had heard about how Anko killed a guy the other night while protecting Naruto, and they were a little more afraid of the two of them now.

It was rather quiet between the two of them as they walked through the streets, but that all ended when Anko stopped and looked at Naruto.

"When was the last time you ate, Gaki?" She asked the boy. He was quiet for a moment, but spoke back to her *after thinking for a few seconds.

"Umm. A few days, I think…" He said back to her as he tried to remember, getting her to look at him curiously.

"A few days? But you've only been in the hospital for one. Before the Villagers got you, how many days has it been since you last ate?" She rephrased her question, hoping to retrieve a better answer from Naruto.

"So… Today is Thursday… and I was in the hospital Wednesday… Umm, three days! Not with Wednesday!" He said happily, knowing that it was the right answer.

Anko looked at him with worry. "You haven't eaten in five days? Gaki, we need to get you something to eat. Now!" She ended with confidence, easily picking him up and placing him on her shoulders to get to her favorite dango shop.

It was only a matter of seconds before they reached their destination, and Anko put Naruto down on the ground. She knew that he could have ran with her to the shop, but he hadn't eaten in days, and he was probably at least a little tired from running ever since he woke up.

Naruto looked at his surroundings and then to Anko, his faced asking for answers. "Where are we?" He asked her.

"This, my dear Gaki," Anko paused to put a hand on Naruto shoulder. "Is the home of the greatest food in existence. Dango!" She said happily, getting an odd look from Naruto, who shook his head at her.

"No, Ramen is the best food!" He spoke back defiantly.

Anko snorted and began to laugh, even tearing up a bit. "Ha! Ramen? It's good, kid, but not as good as Dango."

Naruto shook his head again and somewhat glared at her. "Ramen is the food of the gods! Teuchi-ojisan said so!"

"Trust me, Naruto. When you taste Dango, you'll agree with me." Anko spoke confidently, fully believing that Dango could calm the mightiest of beasts, and the largest of hungers. "Just try it Gaki." She continued, leading Naruto into the dango shop and over to the counter.

It was a little store, but the size of the place didn't mean anything. Many people said that they sold the best dango in Konoha, and Anko took that fact to heart as the one proving it true or not.

The Snake Mistress ordered a few sticks of dango. Half of it was going to Naruto, and the other half was for her. She was sure that he would change his tune about Ramen being the best. The two of them sat down at a booth and began to eat

Without fear or worry, Naruto took one of the dango sticks and ate the dumplings. He caught Anko's expectant look and nodded at her. "It's good!" He said to her, getting her to celebrate due to the fact that she thought that she had gotten him to admit that it was the better of two foods. "But not better than ramen!" Her celebrating stopped and a look that would make the Kyūbi cower in fear appeared on Anko's face. Naruto was frozen in fear, and could only listen to what she had to say.

"I let you have my Dango. MY. DANGO. And you still say that Ramen is better?!" She asked furiously. She hardly let anyone have a share of her dango. The least he could do was humor her for a little before saying that ramen might have been a little better than dango.

"Well that's fine kid. Can't force you onto something." She said with a happy smile, ignoring the fact that she had just scared her new son shitless. She ruffled his hair and smiled a little when he whimpered in fear.

"Y-you're n-n-not going to kick me out or abandon me or anything?" He asked with uncertainty. His reaction caused Anko to look at him quizzically.

"No? Why would I do something like that? I mean I took it upon myself to look after you, to adopt you as my musuko, and I plan on doing it." She said with confidence and a warm smile. She was quiet for a moment, hearing that he was still whimpering a little in fear.

She sighed lightly, taking in a small breath as she looked at him with sympathy. "Listen, Gaki. I didn't mean to scare you." She paused, shrugging her shoulders. "Well, maybe a little, but not to this extent." She got up from her side of the booth and sat down next to Naruto, putting a hand on his shoulder as she looked down at him with a smile. "You think that ramen is better, than that's cool. That just means that I have to try harder to get you to admit that dango is better!" She said with joy, laughing a little in an attempt to make Naruto feel a bit better. Naruto smiled at *his adoptive mother and laughed along with her, taking another stick of dango not long after.

The two of them had a good dinner, talking and learning a bit more about the other. With Naruto, it wasn't all that hard to learn just about everything about him. He was a six year old who lived off of Ramen and what the old Hokage gave him. It was saddening and angering at the same time to hear about how the village treated Naruto. Anko knew how bad the village could be, but to hear every story from the boy who had experienced it all set Anko on a whole new level of hate for the village.

Naruto learned about Anko, and how similar she was to him. The village didn't like her either, but she fought for the respect that she currently had, something that Naruto wanted to do. He wanted to fight and earn the recognition and respect of the village. He wanted to show them that they were wrong in being so mean to him. That he wasn't the fox stored inside. He found out that something bad happened to her because of someone else that made most people in the village hate her, and he really felt like he could connect with his new mother.

Currently, the fox and snake duo was on its way to Anko's, and now also Naruto's, home. He was still excited about living with Anko, but not to the same extent that he was before they had gotten dinner.

"So, what are we gonna do when we get home?" Naruto asked, his face showing that he was trying to keep himself from getting tired. It was a pretty adorable sight, seeing the little boy tiredly looking up at Anko.

Anko looked down at Naruto and thought for a moment. Naruto was looking tired, and she didn't really have any plans for the moment. She had plans for the following day, but not right now.

"I don't know, gaki." *She said quietly, continuing to think about how to spend the rest of the day. She took a glance at him and nodded knowingly. "Don't… Know…" She repeated, walking forward as they neared their house.

Anko had a weird feeling, one that got increasingly more noticeable as she moved closer to her house. She didn't know what it was, but decided to keep quiet about it. She was on edge, though, making sure that she was prepared if it was someone who had plans on hurting her or Naruto.

The feeling didn't go away as they got closer, and just before Naruto could touch the door, Anko put her hand out in front of his, keeping him from getting to the door. She looked at the boy, who looked back at her in curiosity.

"Stay here and keep quiet." She said quietly, slowly moving her hand to grasp the knob and turn it. Naruto nodded at her and watched as she opened the door without making a sound. She whispered something inaudible to his untrained ears, but several snakes slithered out of the sleeve of her trench coat and onto the ground, where they proceeded to slither around the house.

Anko moved into the house as well, and pulled out a Kunai just to be safe. She knew who was there, and she wanted to know why.

With a smirk, Anko moved to the dining room, where a figure was currently making some team. Anko concealed the kunai and walked over to the figure.

"So, you're starting to pick up my habit of walking in uninvited." Anko said to the person, who was pouring the tea into two cups.

The person nodded, knowing who it was because of the voice. It was dark in the kitchen, but that wasn't a problem for the two of them and their ninja training. "It seems so. You do it all the time at my house, so it was bound to happen here at some point. Tea?" The person offered, holding one of the hot tea cups out to Anko.

Anko took the cup of tea and sipped the drink, sighing in satisfaction. She set the cup down on the table and looked at the figure, keeping her eyes on the unmistakable red ones. "It's a little dark; don't you think, Nai-chan? I didn't think you were into the darkness."

Kurenai shook her head, smiling a little as she sipped from her own cup. "I'm not, but I didn't want to alarm you by leaving all of your lights on. Having just the kitchen light on would have also raise suspicion. Really, anything that I would have chosen to do would have brought up at least some suspicion."

Anko flipped on the lights, keeping her eyes on Kurenai as she moved back to her cup of tea. "Yeah, but still," She smirked at her friend. "Invading a friends house when they aren't home is my thing. Why are you here?"

Kurenai was silent for a moment, going over her choice of words before speaking them out loud. "Nothing much. You said that you had to do something earlier, but the sun's already set. I wanted to have a chat with you to see what was going on, but you weren't here when I came by initially. So, I came back and made some tea for when you came home." She explained herself to Anko, who was listened quietly.

Anko had a spark in her eyes, but it was only for a short moment before it went away, hidden in the confines of her mind. "Oh, don't worry about it." She looked behind her in surprise, remembering that a six year old boy was standing outside of her *door, waiting for the signal to be let in. "Oh! That's right." She turned back to Kurenai with a grin. "You have to meet your new godson." Kurenai's eyes widened at this, looking at Anko with the same look of surprise. Before she could say anything, Anko spoke again. "Naruto, come in here! False alarm, it's just Nai-chan."

Naruto heard Anko call him from inside the house, and walked through the door and closed it behind him. He walked around the house for a brief moment before finding the kitchen, his tired little mind struggling to stay awake.

Kurenai turned to Naruto as he walked into the kitchen, and he couldn't be any cuter at the moment. There were small bags under his ocean blue eyes, and his sun-kissed blonde hair was as spiky as ever. Kurenai didn't even want to start thinking about his whiskers. Everything about *him was just so cute. In an instant, Kurenai had the boy in her arms, hugging him as tight as humanly possible.

"I'm going to be this adorable little boy's godmother?!" She asked excitedly, squeezing him even more than before. She didn't notice that Naruto was trying to break free from her iron grip.

"Anko-kaasan… Help…!" Naruto managed to get out, still trying to get away from this strange woman who refused to let him go.

Eventually, Kurenai stopped suffocating him in a hug and lifted him up so that she could see his face. She practically squealed at his little whiskers, and began to pet and stroke them. She was like a giddy teenager at the moment, which was highly unlike her.

Naruto had never had someone touch his whiskers before, because if he had, he would have been prepared for the feeling that he got from his godmother touching them. Unconsciously, he began to purr, and started to drift into unconsciousness. He was like an actual fox, snuggling into Kurenai as she continued to pet his whiskers which caused him to keep purring. It made him all the cuter in the genjutsu mistress' eyes. Neither she nor Anko could believe how cute he was becoming, even as he drifted off to sleep.

"He purrs!?" Kurenai asked excitedly and semi-rhetorically.

With wide eyes and a shrug, Anko responded. "I guess? I don't know, it's never happened before!"

In little time, Naruto fell asleep from the affectionate treatment from Kurenai, who wouldn't let go of him until Anko ordered her to do so. He needed to get some rest, and he would have a better sleep on a bed than in Kurenai's iron grip.

Once he was put in Anko's bed, as it was the only bed in the house at the moment, Anko moved back to the kitchen where she continued to talk to Kurenai.

"So, you're really making me his godmother?" Kurenai asked, unsure if her friend was actually being serious about that or not. Much to her enjoyment, Anko nodded.

"Of course. You're better mother material than I am, and I probably won't be able to raise him right without you." She said confidently, knowing that Kurenai would probably take the role of godmother, even if she didn't have the title.

"Thank you, Anko! You won't regret it!" She said happily, thinking back on the adorable little boy she was going to be raising with her friend.

And eventually the day ended, and Kurenai went home after going to Anko's room and holding onto Naruto for a few minutes. Anko had to carefully pry Naruto out of Kurenai's arms so that he could continue sleeping, and a little while later she joined him in the bed. He slept on the far end of one side, and Anko took the other side. She knew that she'd have to get him a bed and a room of his own, if they were going to be living together, but she was going to worry about that later.

The next morning, a little boy woke up from what he believed to be the best and saddest dream of his life. He had been rescued from the villagers by a woman and her snakes, and was taken in by her. In the dream, he had also gained some friends, one of them being a girl a few years older than he is, and the other three being her dogs that followed her around. It was such a perfect dream, and it ended with meeting one more person, who was apparently now his godmother.

As he woke up, he didn't bother to notice that his bed was much comfier and larger than before, not to mention that his room was entirely different as well. He didn't take notice of the nearly naked woman sleeping next to him, as he was drowned in his own sadness because of what he believed to have been a dream, and not reality. He also didn't notice that he wasn't in his tattered clothes anymore, and only wore the trunks that he had on previously.

As he woke up more, though, he began to take note of all of the differences until it hit him, and a look of excitement was spread across his face. He jumped in excitement as he realized that it wasn't a dream, and he couldn't believe that he thought it was in the first place. He wasn't in his own home, because that wasn't his home anymore. He lived here with Anko now, and he couldn't be happier.

He walked back to Anko's room, where he found the woman just as naked as he was in the bed. She seemed fairly peaceful, but was stirring just the slightest bit. Her hand covered the left side of the base of her neck, and she seemed to have been experiencing something bad in her dream. Naruto wanted to see what she was holding, but he didn't want to disturb her sleep. Before he could do anything else, he heard a knocking at the door. As it was still early out, and he wasn't fully awake yet, Naruto decided to get the door to see who was there.

The little boy walked over to the door, and opened it, just before the person on the other side could knock again.

The man on the other side of the door was well built, and much taller than Naruto was at the time. He had a bear-like physique, and wore a black trench coat and a bandana styled Hitai-ate. He had two large scars going across his face, and a slightly surprised expression on his face. He was expecting for Anko to be at the door, and not this little kid who lacked clothes.

They were both quiet for a moment, taking in each other's appearance. Ibiki noted the seal on the boy's stomach, and knew who he was instantly. The village Pariah, Naruto Uzumaki. He felt a little bad for the boy, but he still had questions about his presence.

"I know Anko usually likes them young, but he's a little too young for her tastes." Ibiki whispered under his breath, not worried that Naruto would be able to hear him or understand what he was saying. He then looked straight into the blue eyes of the little blonde boy in front of him. "Do you know where Anko is?" He asked calmly, trying to keep his interrogational tendencies at hand until he had a better understanding of the situation.

Naruto nodded at him. He was a little scared of the giant man before him, but he needed to stay calm. "Yep! She was still sleeping when I woke up, so I was careful to not wake her up when I left the be-" He was interrupted by Ibiki, who's face morphed into a slight scowl as he walked into the house, pushing Naruto out of the way in the process. He then turned around and shut the door before grabbing Naruto and practically throwing him on the couch. Naruto was scared now, but was too afraid to make a sound.

"I'm going to be quiet to keep her from getting up, but I don't need to raise my voice to get what I want out of you." Ibiki said coolly. He had to watch what he said to the boy. He was probably pretty mentally fragile because of the village, and he didn't want to add to that torture. "What are you doing here?" He asked in the same cool voice.

Naruto was paralyzed in fear. This man was now truly scaring him, and Naruto could barely move or speak. One of his hands gripped his leg, and held on so tightly that his nails were digging into his skin, causing some blood to come out of his leg. He was young, but he knew that he could overwrite his fear with pain. That was surprising to Ibiki. He didn't know that Naruto knew of that kind of technique, even though it was fairly common to do things like hurt yourself to overwrite fear in stressful missions or scenarios. What he did next, though, truly surprised Ibiki, and even scared him a bit too. The little boy shouted to the heavens as loud as he possibly could.

"ANKO-KAASAN!" He yelled out during his brief moment of pain. His wound was nothing to a ninja, and it healed instantly. It closed and repaired itself in a matter of seconds, just enough time for Anko to come flying out of her room and into the living room with a kunai in each hand.

She had awoken because of Naruto calling out her name, and she reacted in an instant, finding Kunai wherever available at the time and not worrying about clothes until after whatever was happening was dealt with.

She lunged at Ibiki, who barely had any time to react, and was pinned on the ground with a kunai to his neck, and another to his wrist. He could easily pick her up and move her aside, but he was still suffering from the shock of being thrown to the floor.

"Why are you here and what are the hell are you doing to my musuko?!" Anko asked furiously, not recognizing Ibiki until a few seconds after speaking. She then smiled sheepishly and got off of him, leaving the room with a quick "One sec!" before vanishing to her room.

Because of what events had just happened in the last few seconds, Ibiki learned just what he wanted to know. It seemed within the last few days, two, maybe three at the most, Anko adopted Naruto and took him in as her son. She was too busy with him to go to work for the past two days, and she was most likely so tired from the recent events that she slept in later, but was not sleeping heavily enough to ignore the loud screaming by her son. As she is a ninja, and a damn fine one at that, she reacted instantly at being called out during her sleep, and attacked the first person in sight through instinct alone.

Ibiki stood up and faced Naruto, who was still scared of the man. Ibiki nodded and looked into his eyes. "Sorry kid." He said plainly trying to think of some better words to use. He was good with using words and phrases that tore apart people, not putting them back together. "Good thinking with clawing yourself, though. Didn't think you'd know that." He flashed him a small and rare smile, sitting next to the boy. "Anko took you in." He said, rather than asked, knowing that it was what was happening.

The two of them sat in silence, waiting for Anko to come back. Ibiki had little to say because he felt like there was little so say in the situation. Naruto was just scared shitless.

When Anko came back in, Naruto was the first one to speak, getting looks from both Ibiki and Anko.

"Why are all of your friends so weird?" Naruto asked, Getting looks from both of the adults in the room. Ibiki seemed unresponsive, but actually would have popped a vein if his emotions were seen on his face. Anko simply smirked at the boy. He'd have to get used to that weirdness, as there were hardly ever ninja who were plain and normal. That was what kept the job interesting.

"Pay him no mind, Ibiki. He'll learn." Anko said confidently, sure that her son will learn his lesson about calling ninja like Kurenai and Ibiki weird.

Anko sat down in between Naruto and Ibiki, and relaxed in her seat as she glanced at the both of them. "So yeah. I'm sorry for not checking in or anything, but as you can see, my life has taken a bit of a turn. I have to cash in those days off so we can get settled living with each other, as well as get more food and get him some new clothes. That Jumpsuit of his looked like a one-size-fits-most, and he can't be wearing something like that out during missions. A little orange, but probably burnt or something to keep from getting too much attention."

Ibiki nodded in understanding. He didn't have any kids of his own, but he treated Anko like a daughter, even if she was only a few years younger than he was. "And what of _high priority_ events? If you know everything about the boy, like I'm sure you do, then you should know that he's probably going to be invited to several events in the future. He has to look good as well. Make an impression-"

"Yeah, yeah. Got it. We'll deal with that more when the Hokage tells the village. He's going to bring it up at a council meeting before telling everyone else." She cut him off. He didn't say anything about it, and he understood, but he still wasn't happy about it. "Though, I do wonder how you know something like that." Anko said accusingly, wondering how Ibiki would know about Naruto's heritage.

Ibiki smiled briefly and looked at the boy. "It should be easy to pin down that face and his tendencies. Shikaku should have identified him as soon as he laid eyes on the boy."

Anko said accusingly, wondering how Ibiki would know about Naruto's heritage.

Ibiki smiled briefly and looked at the boy. "It should be easy to pin down that face and his tendencies. Shikaku should have identified him as soon as he laid eyes on the boy."

Anko nodded back at the master interrogator and got up from her seat. They couldn't get what they needed while sitting down. "Well." She said as she stretched. "We should get going. C'mon Naruto, we're heading out." She then glanced at Ibiki, who was getting up as well, as she opened up the door. "You can join us if you want. You could help bring down the prices if they seem too high." This got Ibiki to smile more and nod, and the three of them left the house. After all, it was always fun to terrify the masses.

Walking through the shopping district of Konoha, Ibiki, Anko, and Naruto were all looking at shops to visit. They had gotten the boy some practice weapons, including a sword by the suggestion of the cat-masked ANBU who was supposed to just be watching, not helping Naruto find the perfect blade to train with by going through every available sword and picking out the best one that would suit him for the time being.

The three of them had just left one of the top ninja gear and weapons stores with several outfits and weapons in their hands. It was called Higurashi Weapons, and was actually one of the few places that day where Ibiki didn't have to haggle with the store owner to lower the prices. He was a weapons expert, and knew a decent amount when it came to *selling, so he understood Naruto's position and allowed him to come into his store any time. He seemed like a nice man, and even wanted to introduce Naruto to his daughter, who was out at the moment with her mother. Naruto made a note to come back there for weapons and things.

Ibiki helped Anko pick out some outfits that were good for both missions and more formal occasions. It wasn't until minutes after leaving the store that they found Kurenai walking through the district as well, seemingly on the lookout for something. Anko was the first to speak to her, getting her attention as the group stood a little distance away.

"Kurenai? What are you doing here?" Anko asked, curious about her friend's presence.

Kurenai's head snapped in the direction of Anko, and looked at her with slight surprise. She currently had a somewhat large bag with her, that seemingly held several clothes that she picked out for herself. "Oh, Anko! It's good to see you and Naruto! Hello Ibiki-san." Ibiki nodded at Kurenai in recognition before looking around. Kurenai's attention moved to Naruto, who was still looking at all of the cool ninja gear in the shop through the windows. "Naruto-kun. Can you come over here for a second?"

Naruto's attention was caught by Kurenai as she called him by name, and the boy nodded before walking over to his godmother.

Kurenai smiled and reached into her bag, digging around for something. "I'm out shopping because I wanted to surprise you with a few outfits. While they can be used for running around, jumping, and even training, they're more or less durable civilian clothes." A spark came into her eyes and she moved her hand out of the bag, and grabbed Naruto's hand. "Since you're here, we can try out all of these clothes that I got you! And I have to see the things that Anko and Ibiki-san got you as well! Come on!" She said happily as she dragged Naruto, taking him into one of the stores so that they could go to a dressing room and try out everything that he had gotten.

To say the least, Naruto did not have a fun time.

After they were done with all of the clothes, Naruto, Anko, Ibiki, and Kurenai all walked to the market to get food for Naruto and Anko. Anko had already shopped for food, but she wanted to go back to get some things that Naruto might have wanted that she didn't already have.

The four of them all walked into the store and began to walk around. They all followed Naruto, as he seemed to have an idea of what he wanted to get. What he did surprised everyone, but only to a certain extent.

They had walked into and isle, all following Naruto, and just watched with surprised as he filled his entire basket with ramen cups. They waited until he was done before speaking.

"All Ramen? Naruto, you know that you're going to have to eat other things, right?" Kurenai asked, who simply got an odd look from the boy that she was talking too. It was like he didn't know that there were other food that existed that were so much better and healthier than ramen.

"No, I only eat ramen!" He said happily, not realizing that all of that ramen was horribly unhealthy.

Anko shook her head at her son. "No, Naruto. Ramen's good and all, but you can't be a good ninja on just that." Her words seemed to have hurt Naruto.

"Are you saying that you don't eat dango all the time Kaa-san!?" He asked her harshly, uncharacteristically for a child of his age.

"Yes, gaki. That's exactly what I'm saying! Dango, is delicious, dango is the best, but it isn't everything. If you had ramen every day, then you'd turn out short, malnourished, and incapable in a battle. It's good every once and a while, like dango it, but it's not an everyday thing."

Naruto pouted. He wanted to argue, he really did, but the large man with the scars, and the crazy woman with the clothing were scaring him. He hadn't gotten to meet the scary side of Anko, so he wasn't afraid of her, at least not yet.

He simply nodded and put more than half of the ramen back on the shelf before returning to Anko and the rest of the group. She smiled at him, patted his head, and brushed her hand across his whiskers, which caused him to make a small sound that he wasn't prepared to make. He looked at Anko with a light scowl, and went to check out the few cups of ramen he had with him. He was going to cherish those, as he was sure that he wouldn't be having much.

And he was right.

The following day, the village stirring quite loudly because of a certain snake mistress and a certain blonde running all throughout the streets of konohagakure. The boy in question was currently running for his life out of fear because his adoptive mother was chasing him with a grin that only a madwoman would wear. She had a kunai in each hand and a spark in her eyes that made Naruto cower in fear.

When Naruto was running from the ANBU the other day, he wasn't going his fasted because he knew it was just a game, but he was still trying so he could get out of the hospital. This was an entirely different scenario. Naruto woke up this morning by being scared by Anko, and then was fed a healthy and rather plentiful breakfast before getting down to grueling training. She wasn't going to put him in the forest of death, not yet. While Anko had said that he'd only be doing light training because of his age and experience, it was the worst thing that he had ever done. Anko promised Naruto that if he could outrun and outmaneuver her for most of the day, then she'd teach him something cool.

Naruto weaved through the streets, being followed by a madwoman who seemed to have had the intent to kill him.

The little blonde boy weaved through the streets, running into the onsen without hesitation. He went through a flash of handsigns and transformed into a much taller being. It was a female version of himself, and a quite beautiful one at that.

The disguised boy stayed at the onsen for a few minutes before walking out and reverted back to his normal appearance.

Only seconds later was there a figure behind him who was smiling at him with that odd and disturbing smile of his.

Anko was impressed that he could do the henge, especially at his young age. She wondered how she could do it, but would ask him after she captured him and put him in one of the interrogation chairs at T&amp;I. This exercise was to simulate being chased as an actual ninja, and since he was just about to be captured, he would be interrogated. He'd have to hold up against her tactics that she reserved especially for him. She tapped the boy on the shoulder and bent down so her face was right next to his. She whispered into his ear in such a way that scared him.

"Gotcha."

"Ah crap…"

~Omake – Sexy jutsu time! How Naruko came to be.~

Naruto woke up with a rather quick start. He wanted to relish in the feeling of being half asleep, but the bright lights in his face kept him from dozing off. He had even tried to shut his eyes as tight as possible, but it was of no use.

Naruto attempted to move his hands in front of his face, but he couldn't do so because his arms were strapped into a chair, along with his legs. He struggled to get free, but nothing he could do would help in the situation.

"So, you're awake, Gaki?" A familiar voice asked him. He couldn't see where it was coming from, but he was sure that she was behind the bright light in his face.

Naruto groaned and looked down, trying to shield his eyes from the bright light.

Anko laughed, turning down the intensity of the lights. "Alright Naruto. I won our little game of chase, and now you're going to be interrogated by me and Kurenai. Got it?" She asked seriously. While she was going to interrogate him like she would with a missing nin or criminal, she could only do so much because he was a six year old boy.

Naruto nodded and looked at Anko, who was now visible because of the dimmer light.

Anko smiled. "Good!" She said as she walked in front of the light, placing a dull kunai at his neck. "Now where did you learn that jutsu." She demanded an answer from him, but was still going soft on the boy. Earlier that day, she had told him that when she captured him, he would be interrogated, and he would have to do everything that he could to keep himself from giving information to her. So of course, he was going to put up as much of a struggle as a stubborn boy could at his age.

Naruto shook his head and looked away from Anko. Of course he was scared because she had a kunai to his neck, but he was told to be strong and stubborn. "Nope." He replied back, getting Anko to realistically feign anger.

Anko pushed the dull kunai further against Naruto's neck, and at this point he knew that it was too dull to cut someone using the amount of force she was currently using. It'd have to be sharper if she wanted answers from him.

Anko looked behind her. "Kurenai." She called out, getting the red eyed woman to step forward. "Put him under a genjutsu. Give him your worst."

Naruto was a little more scared now. Kurenai seemed crazy to him because she had almost strangled him when they first met, and assaulted him with clothes the day before. He could only wonder what her worst was, and took a small gulp in fear.

Kurenai nodded at Anko and did several handsigns, grinning when she saw her godson gulp in fear of her. She wouldn't use anything too scarring on him, something that would have affected him, and him alone. She had been told by Anko to go a little hard on him, but only so much. He was just starting out, and they couldn't use everything they had against him. She had been told that he could use the henge, but Kurenai hadn't seen it for herself. She wanted to, but only after this was done.

She didn't say anything aloud, but the chakra that she flared signified that the genjutsu was now active.

Naruto's eyes went wide, and his body was still as he experienced the genjutsu. It was of Anko, Kurenai, Ibiki, Yugao, and Kakashi all sitting at Ichiraku Ramen and denying the boy food. To any normal person, this would hardly be anything, but these were people that Naruto knew and liked as friends, and they were denying him the ultimate food in existence. Moments later, Kurenai released the genjutsu and Naruto looked at his mother pleadingly.

"I'll tell you anything but don't say that I can't have ramen ever again please!" He rushed out as he looked at Anko with obvious fear and panic in his eyes and voice.

Anko sighed. Kurenai was good by hitting Naruto in a place where it hurt, his stomach, and it was going to prepare him by getting him to know that enemy shinobi would use any and all weaknesses against their opponents, but not ever letting Naruto ever have ramen again was a little much.

The snake mistress then nodded, glancing at Kurenai and silently telling her to undo the straps on his hands and legs.

Kurenai nodded back and did as she was silently told, stepping back a moment after doing so. She watched as Naruto got up, and attempted to block the boy from moving past her.

Naruto tried to make a run for it, and got past both Anko and Kurenai, but he was stopped at the door where Ibiki stood. The bear-like man simply looked down at Naruto and cast a cold glare at the boy, getting him to back up in fear before putting his hands together to make seals.

He transformed into his female counterpart for Ibiki and Kurenai to see, and transformed back a moment later. Both Kurenai and Ibiki were shocked to see such a beautiful woman take the place of Naruto, and assumed that there much have been more to the story than just that.

Anko looked at the boy curiously, and put a hand on his shoulder. "How'd you learn that?" She asked him.

"I was sneaking around a while ago and I saw a guy make those with his hands. I did it, and I had an idea to use it to be someone else so I could buy things. The people like the pretty girls the best, so that's what I transformed into!" He explained to Anko, Ibiki, and Kurenai. They were all both proud and saddened by the fact the he had learned this jutsu just because he couldn't walk into stores looking like himself. Anko gave him a sad smile and patted his shoulder.

"You did good running, and you faired okay with the physical torture, but mental torture is what we have to work on. Ibiki and Kurenai can help you with that later. I say we get ramen to celebrate your first day of training, and after that I'll teach you something cool." The two of them walked out of the interrogation room with smiles on their faces.

**Hello one again everybody! This chapter is much larger than the previous chapters, and that is because I got help from Ogremen. This chapter wouldn't be how it is without his help and input, so big props to him.**

**For the Omake and upcoming Omakes especially in the next few chapters, they will be small little skips ahead in time, so keep things moving and to not drag on, They will all have importance to the story, and really I'm considering if they should be called Omakes or not because of their use and role in this story.**

**Well anyways, until next time!**


	8. The Poisons

A day later, Naruto was on the run once again, but under slightly different circumstances. As like before, he was being chased by Anko, but there was a twist. He had to avoid the senbon needles that she was throwing at him.

The thing that made Naruto scared beyond belief, however, was not the senbon. He was afraid of the various poisons Anko dipped the needles in. There were only three of four that weren't poisoned, but neither of them knew which ones weren't.

The boy had been scraped by a few needles during his run, and they were affecting him a little, but the fox and his own blood allowed him to become somewhat immune to the poisons over time. He just had to experience them in same and small doses every once in a while to build up the immunity to them. He also had two Senbon needles into his back, but he still continued to run.

Anko called it his immunity training, and it was just for Naruto and his abilities. She could have just given him the poison little by little without chasing him, but this also helped him in speed, maneuverability, and everything else he had gone through the day before.

As the two ran through the village, Anko threw a few more Senbon as him, making sure not to hit anyone other than the target she was aiming for. She could easily hit him every time, but she needed to make him feel like he did actually have a chance against her.

A half-hour later, Naruto's back was filled with Senbon needles, and the boy was moving at a sluggish pace. Naruto was still struggling to move, as he wasn't going to give in and lose. He was going to beat these poisons and still evade Anko. Fortunately for him, Kurenai was up ahead, and the boy put in more effort to move over to her and hide behind her.

Kurenai looked at Naruto with shock and surprise. She took notice of all of the needles in his back, and quickly grabbed a hold of him to start carefully taking the needles out.

It wasn't long before Anko came onto the scene, and looked at Kurenai with mass confusion. "Nai-chan, what are you doing?" She asked her friend, watching her glare back at Anko as she pulled out the last of the needles.

"Me?" She asked, already having an idea of what was happening. "What the hell are YOU doing!?" The red-eyed beauty let go of Naruto and poked a finger accusingly at Anko. "Why does Naruto look like he's going to fall over when it isn't even past noon!? Not to mention looking like a PIN CUSHION!"

Anko still looked at her confused. It should have been obvious what she was doing, or at least she believed so. "What does it look like?" She asked her. "Poison immunity training!" She continued with a happy grin.

"Anko you can't be serious!" Kurenai yelled. "He's six years old and he's only been training for a few days. You can't do something like this to him this early on! His body isn't ready for it."

Anko shook her head. "He'll be fine. That Uzumaki blood of his and his tenant should make sure that he gets over the poisons pretty quickly." This made Kurenai groan.

"He's still six! Advantages or not, he isn't ready for something as strenuous as immunity training. Those hallucinogens will be absolute hell for the boy and you gave him an unbelievably large amount of toxins of all kinds at the same time. He might heal fully in a few hours, but it'll seem like an eternity to him." She tried to bring Naruto into a hold, but he seemed to have moved from his spot before she did so. She looked at where he was in confusion, and this caused Anko to look around as well.

He wasn't anywhere near anymore, that was definite. He was only moving at a snail's pace when Kurenai found him, so he couldn't have gone far. "We need to find him."

That was something they both agreed on.

They had searched as much of the village as they could within a thirty minute period, and the two women eventually stopped to take a small break. They reunited at the Dango shop, and the two of the looked at each other.

"Alright, you're right. I should have waited a bit before putting him through that." Anko said in resignation.

"A bit? Anko, I'm glad that you agree with me, but you shouldn't have started something like this until after he graduated from the academy! And how are you so calm about this? Your six year old son is kami knows where, and you're looking like nothing happened." This got Anko to growl and glare at Kurenai.

"I know he's in trouble. I know that he's somewhere in the village and we can't fine him. I know that he's going to have the worst time of his life, but I can't let that get to me!" She practically yelled at her. "I know that I messed up, Kurenai, and I'm going to fix it, but I can't do that unless I'm calm and I'm focused. When we find him and take him back to my house, then I'll get all emotional." Anko then walked out of the dango shop, motioning for Kurenai to follow. She did as such, and the two of them walked off to where the clan compounds were. "There will always be someone better than you, and I'm just trying to prepare him before his life goes off the deep end."

The two quickly arrived at the Inuzuka compound, where Anko hoped to find one of two Inuzuka women. She didn't prefer one over another, as she was sure that either of them would be able to track the boy down.

Anko knocked on the door and waited impatiently, hoping for any capable tracker to open up the door. When the door did open, Anko was glad to see who was on the other side.

A woman in her thirties opened up the door and looked at the two woman on the other side of the door. Like almost everyone else in the compound, she had the fang-like markings of an Inuzuka, and a feral appearance to match. She knew both of the women who were at the door, and smiled slightly at them.

"Ah, if It isn't Anko. Hana's been talking a lot about you, and your apparent son Naruto." She said, getting a much younger woman inside the house to become flustered.

"Kaa-san!" Hana said in the background. Tsume simply shook it off and became serious.

"You two look a little scared. What's up?" She asked semi-casually, knowing that if Anko was in such a state, even if the signs weren't apparent to the normal eye and senses, it wasn't a good sign.

"We'll talk later, but we need to track someone down. I'll owe you a favor afterwards, but we need to find him now." Anko said urgently, trying to keep a calm look as she informed the Inuzuka matriarch.

Tsume arched an eyebrow. "Track who?" She asked.

"Naruto." Kurenai spoke up, now getting Tsume's full attention. She couldn't let something bad happen to the boy.

"We'll definitely talk later." Tsume said back, her eyes narrowed, turning her head so she could look back into the house. "Hana! Get your dogs and go with Anko. She needs to track Naruto." She ordered, which made Hana nod and call the triplets through whistling.

Kurenai looked at Tsume with curiosity. "I don't have any problems here, but why is she going and not you?" She asked the older woman.

Tsume looked over at Kurenai and glanced at Anko. Kurenai must not have been with Anko when Naruto went missing the first time around. "The triplets are already used to Naruto and his smell, from what I've heard from Hana. Her pups need the practice, and in all honesty when they reach Kuromaru's age, they'll be just as good, if not better, when it comes to tracking."

Kurenai nodded in understanding, and the three of them waited only a few seconds before Hana came running to the door, stopping next to her mother. The youngest woman in the group looked at Kurenai and Anko. "Hello Anko-san. Naruto's missing again?"

Anko nodded and sighed, looking down at the ground to avoid any eyes. "Yeah…I….kinda rushed into his training and now he could be anywhere, not to mention suffering like crazy because of the hallucinogens…" She muttered the last part, but it wasn't effectively quiet enough because Hana and Tsume could hear her clearly.

"Hallucinogens!? Anko, what happened?" Tsume said in a stern voice. She knew how hurt that boy was. If he started to hallucinate, only kami would know what would start appearing in front of him.

Anko sighed again, slowly looking up at Tsume. "I put him into immunity training too early. His blood and…tenant… will keep him alive, and he'll get over the poisons and other things faster than most people, but that doesn't mean that he won't feel its effects any less." She paused and let the information sink in. It was obvious to the Inuzuka women that Anko regretted doing such a thing to her little boy, but was most likely not thinking fully at the moment, or didn't fully understand how harsh it would be for him. Tsume was about to say something, but was stopped by Anko. "Scold me all you want later." She said in a calm but firm voice, glancing at Hana before turnring around. "We need to find Naruto first."

Kurenai and Anko jumped away first, going slow enough for Hana to catch up before moving faster. They stopped at Naruto's old apartment again to get another whiff of his scent, as it was still pretty strong there, and then took off once more.

Anko knew where they would be if they kept going in the direction that they were going in, and she hoped that Naruto wouldn't be found being in the jaws of some beast, or hitting the gates.

Kurenai also had an idea of where they were going. She had been to Anko's personal playground a few times before, so she knew how to get there.

It didn't take long, and the group eventually stopped when they were faced with a large chain gate blocking their path. Near the gate was a small hole that someone could probably go through if they were small enough…or if they were Naruto's size.

Anko looked at Hana. "Is he in there?" She asked, getting a nod from Hana, who kept her eyes on the dogs that were making their way through the hole near the gate.

Anko stepped forward and unlocked the gate, motioning for them to move ahead. When everyone was inside, Anko closed the gate and continued to run with the group. It didn't take long for them to find Naruto, who wasn't all that far into the forest of death.

When they stopped, the group saw a rather large black panther slowly making its way over to Naruto. Anko and Kurenai noticed the panther, and decided to stay quiet. The cat didn't have any intent on eating Naruto, as it was moving far too slowly to have that sort of desire at the moment. It was watching Naruto, and soon enough the panther walked right over to Naruto and grabbed onto his collar by using its fangs. The two elder women couldn't let that Panther get away, and threw a barrage of kunai at the cat, causing it to drop Naruto while it became injured and ran off.

"Naruto-kun!" Hana shouted in fear as she dashed at Naruto and caught the boy just before he hit the ground. He was cradled in her arms as she rolled on the ground, stopping after rolling around a few times. When she stopped, she moved to a seating position, and examined the boy.

By looking at Naruto's face, they could tell that he had been crying quite a lot, most likely from the hallucinogens that were in his body. He was whimpering quietly in his sleep, and he couldn't stop shaking. His suffering wasn't over yet, it seemed.

Kurenai remembered how Naruto purred when she had first met him, and she wondered if that could calm him down now, in such a bad time for him. She glanced at Hana, who seemed to have been taking an interest in Naruto's wellbeing for the moment.

He was a boy half her age that experienced things that she had yet to face. He was a brave kid, and she hoped that Naruto would make it through this okay. She looked up in surprise and shook when she heard Kurenai speak.

"Pet his whiskers." She said with a small smile, getting Hana to look at her with confusion and as if she thought Kurenai was crazy. The look on Kurenai's face told Hana that it was exactly what she had said, and now the older woman was silently encouraging Hana to do it.

Slowly and hesitantly, Hana moved one of her hands over to Naruto's face, and began to pet the whiskers on the left side of his face. The reaction she got from him was surprising, but relieving. He stopped shaking and whining almost instantly, and began to purr softly in her arms. She was surprised, and continued to pet his whiskers as she stood up and began to walk out of the forest with Anko and Kurenai.

As he was being lifted, Naruto's eyes opened a little and looked at Hana, who was carrying him and petting the marks on his face. "Angel…" He said quietly, smiling at the blurry but still strikingly beautiful girl holding him before falling back into unconsciousness. This caused Hana to blush, and Anko and Kurenai to look back at the two in curiosity. They wanted to make sure that he said what they thought he said.

Anko and Kurenai walked side by side. Hana was holding onto Naruto so that the two of them could talk without worry of waking the boy.

Kurenai looked at her friend sternly. "I'm going to be Naruto's Jonin instructor when he graduates." She told Anko, who looked at her with confusion.

"What?" Anko replied, unsure of why she was bringing up who his Jonin instructor would be. "What are you talking about? Naruto's going to be on my team and we'll have the best team in Konoha! Probably pass the Chunin exams as a rookie." She spoke confidently about her son.

Kurenai shook her head. "If it weren't for me, he'd be in the stomach of an animal right now. If you were his sensei, you'd take him and his team on a B-rank the day after graduation. I'm sorry Anko, but I'm much better suited to be his instructor." The red eyed genjutsu mistress then smirked. "And if you think otherwise, then we could just bring up you filling Naruto with posions and him getting lost to the Hokage. See what he thinks on the matter…"

Anko sighed and grumbled as she looked back at Hana and Naruto. "Fine..." She said to her friend, grumbling the next word that came out of her mouth. "Meanie…"

~Elsewhere in Konoha~

Ibiki sat a small restaurant near the outskirts of Konoha. It wasn't his absolute favorite place to eat at, but they had good food and good service.

The scarred man looked across the table and glanced at both of the shinobi in front of him. One Kakashi Hatake, and one Yugao Uzuki. The two still had their uniforms on, but did not have their ANBU masks with them. Well, Yugao didn't have a mask on, but like always, Kakashi had his mouth and eye covered by another mask and his Hitai-ate.

"I should ask, but I think I've already got it figured out. " Ibiki said with a small smirk. Yugao and Kakashi had both asked him to join them for a somewhat late lunch. The minute they spoke to him without their masks on, he had suspicions of what was going on. Even in such a large village, word can travel quick when the right people are spoken to.

"Do you now?" Kakashi asked nonchalantly. He wouldn't have expected anything less than a man just as smart as Shikaku. "Then tell us what you've figured out."

"I overheard that you two made a bet with Naruto to chase him around the village. I also know that you were tasked by the Hokage to make sure that he stayed in his hospital room. He found out, and now he asked the two of you to take some time off so you were free for when he decides on your punishment for going against his orders." He told the two of them, getting Yugao to sigh and nod at the master interrogator.

"Yeah. We kind of asked you to join us for lunch so that we could stop thinking about what he'll do to us, but that's how it went." She explained. "Hokage-sama asked us to talk to him after he was done talking to everyone else, and told us to cash in our off-days so we'd be open whenever." She sighed once more. Kakashi nodded to this, but stayed quiet as he felt that he didn't need to say anything else.

Ibiki arched an eyebrow at the two of them. His eyebrow then lowered back to its original position, and the scarred man spoke again. "Well, I can take a good guess as to what he might do. It might not help you though, and just make it worse on the two of you."

"Shoot." Kakashi replied simply, Yugao nodded to her partner's response.

Ibiki leaned forward and got into a thinking pose. While he was almost always an unmovable stone wall that lacked emotions, he was a little less so around his friends. "You'll be taken off the force, most likely put in as a jonin instead, and probably given some secret and unspoken, but highly paid mission of guarding Naruto. That way, you'll have more leniency as people, and you won't be subject to being taken off of watching Naruto, only to be replaced by someone who doesn't share our views on the boy."

Yugao's eyes widened slightly, but noticeably. "That's… Pretty feasible." She said honestly. That sounded like something Hiruzen would do, especially in regards to protecting and watching over Naruto. And as much as she liked her mask, she could only do so much with the boy when she was on duty, which was all the time. Now, without the need for a mask, or ANBU clothing, she and Kakashi could help the boy out a lot more, without worry of breaking ANBU rules or anything. She could possibly teach him kenjutsu so he could be as good as his biological mother.

Suddenly, Ibiki picked his head up, suddenly alert for something and looked off in a seemingly random direction. Neither Kakashi nor Yugao knew what was going on with him, as they hadn't seen this before, but they didn't want to ask questions until after. They could hear Ibiki whisper a single word under his breath before quickly getting up out of his seat and rushing out of restaurant. That one word that he muttered under his breath was "Anko."

~Inuzuka compound~

At the Inuzuka compound, the clan matriarch was walking through the halls to get to her study. Like always, the rooms and hallways were as clean as humanly possible. It was rather odd how a clan so close to dogs had so many neat-freaks, including her daughter Hana and herself.

As she reached her destination, Tsume opened the door to the study and closed it behind her. Normally, she would have kept it open for Kuromaru as well, but he was sleeping at the moment, taking some rest from their recent mission.

The Inuzuka woman walked over to her desk quietly, opening one of the drawers and digging around in it. She swore that she had what she was looking for was inside her desk, but that didn't seem to be the case. As the search went on, Tsume began to become more frantic in her search. Eventually, she found the item she was looking for behind a picture of Hana, which was taken the day that she got her Ninken.

Tsume looked at the scroll now in her hands, but she didn't look at the contents inside. She knew very well what was inside, as it was engraved in her head from hours upon hours of reading over it. The scroll was of a dark blue color, and rather plain except for the swirling pattern keeping the scroll closed. As she looked at it, two voices appeared in her head, repeating the words that she had heard several years ago.

"_It would be a benefit for all of us."_ The male voice echoed throughout her head.

"_There's no obligation, but we ask that you at least hold onto it and look it over, even if you say no in the end." _The female voice said, reminding her of two good friends that she had lost years before.

She had been tempted to sign the scroll so many times throughout the years, but she didn't want to do it because it would keep the two that were involved in the scroll's deal from seeing anyone else but each other. She had tried other methods to care for him, but they were all shut down.

Sarutobi didn't know about the scroll. If he did, then he probably would have been at least partially for signing it, if not totally against it and demanding it be handed over. The scroll, though, was as legitimate as it could get, and not even the current Hokage would have the ability to deny the authenticity of the document. It couldn't be destroyed either, as the seals on it kept it from withering, and suffering from the effects of Nature and jutsu.

Anko would have to see the scroll for herself and tell Tsume what she thought about it. There was a possibility that she would be on the same boat with Tsume, but there was also the possibility of her wanting for the Matriarch to sign the scroll.

"You're in charge of the kid now, so it isn't just my decision anymore…" She muttered to herself, looking up and at the door as she heard another door opening. It was rather quiet in the compound at the moment, and with the enhanced senses that all Inuzuka had, she was sure to pick up the sound of light chatter, a door opening, and several feet walking about. Opening the door, she was able to hear her daughter call out to her. Tsume smiled and began to walk back out into the main room, the scroll in her hands.

Anko and the others, a few minutes ago

Hana hadn't attempted to stop what she was doing, it was just too much fun, not to mention cute and adorable. It didn't seem that Kurenai or Anko minded, though, as neither of them talked to her about stopping what she was doing. Hearing that wonderful sound every time she did it was music to her enhanced ears.

It was true, Hana couldn't stop petting Naruto's whiskers.

Hearing him purr and watching him react to her wasn't something she could put into words, but she just loved the little, adorable boy in her arms. It was hard to hear that he was going through immunity training, as she knew it was difficult. People that had Inuzuka blood were born with an astounding immune system, so Immunity training wasn't as bad for them as it was for just about everyone else.

As much as she loved petting him, she knew that she couldn't do it in public. People would wonder what she was doing, and would also become infatuated with petting the boy's whiskers. She had to make sure that it never left the compound, however, she was planning on telling her mother about it, just to see how she would react.

She also had to make sure that it didn't leave the mouth of her little brother, the little blabber mouth and idiot.

The group walked on for a few more minutes before reaching the compound, and Kurenai held the door open so Hana could bring Naruto inside first. Hana nodded with a smile as she walked through the door, and looked around for her mother.

"Kaa-san?" She called out, walking over to one of the couches and sitting down, keeping the little boy in her arms as she continued to pet him.

Kurenai shut the door behind herself after Anko walked in, and the three waited for Tsume to enter the room. Anko and Kurenai were guests, and it wasn't right for them to wander around the compound unless given permission to do so. Clan compounds had a different set of rules than normal houses, and the two of them knew that.

Tsume entered the main room with a scroll in her hands. She looked around the room and spotted her daughter, Naruto, Anko, and Kurenai. Kurenai was watching Hana pet the unconscious Naruto, and Anko was looking around from where she was standing. Anko's head looked over in the direction of Tsume as the Inuzuka woman came into view. She had a calm, yet stern look on her face as she walked to the group. Anko knew that she wanted to know about Naruto and his condition, so she wanted to get that out of the way. Unfortunately, she was stopped by the youngest woman in the room, who smiled and called out to her mother again.

"Kaa-san! You have to try this!" She stopped petting Naruto for a momentand held the boy out to her mother. "He purrs when you pet him!"

Hana looked at her mother expectantly, who simply looked at her quizzically and as if Hana had grown a second head. She wasn't sure if this was a joke or not, and the Inuzuka matriarch slowly reached out to pet the boy's whiskers.

Much to her surprise, Naruto actually did purr like Hana said he would, and she was instantly hooked on petting him. It was an unexplainable feeling, but she couldn't stop petting the boy. She eventually had to stop because Hana pulled him away, almost like she wanted to keep the boy and pet him forever.

Little did they know, a little boy with brown messy hair was watching the entire thing, and even giggled at the sight at the boy purring. In an instant, he was gone from the scene, completely unnoticed.

After Tsume was done petting Naruto, the matriarch of the clan looked at Anko, and took a step away from the group. "Let's talk in my study. You can come too, Kurenai." She spoke as she walked away, getting the two women to follow her to the study, where all of the clan business was done and taken care of.

Once they were in the study, Tsume shut the door and looked at the two of them. "So…please explain to me why Naruto looked like the villagers had a piece of him." She said calmly, trying to keep the famous Inuzuka temper down for the moment.

Anko gave out a nervous smile, and Kurenai did the same, as she was also at fault for Naruto making his way into the Forest of Death.

"I kinda rushed his training…" Anko said sheepishly.

Tsume raised an eyebrow. "What kind of training?"

Anko sighed and looked down at the ground. "Immunity training…"

Tsume almost popped a blood vessel at what she had just heard. She knew what the boy held, and what his family line consisted of, but he was still too young and inexperienced to go through something as strenuous as immunity training. "You WHAT?!" She yelled at the younger woman. "He's six years old, Anko! You could have done anything other than Immunity training, and that is one of the worst ones aside from interrogation!" She growled and sighed, placing a hand over her face. "Honestly Anko, what the hell?" She ended somewhat quietly.

Anko sighed and growled in slight anger. "I know I fucked up, and it won't happen again. I don't need you people to keep telling me what I did wrong when I already know it myself!" She began to pace around the study. "I messed up. I get it. I rushed his training, yeah. Now shut up about it and move on! I wanted to get it out of the way by giving him small and almost harmless amounts, just enough for his body to identify and become immune." She stopped and sighed once more. "I'll stop and work on something else, happy now?" She knew that she messed up. She knew that it was a bad idea, and she didn't need for every person she came across to tell her what she already knew.

Tsume nodded. "Good." She then handed her the scroll that was in her hands. "Take a look at this when you have the time. Since you're watching over him now, it isn't just my decision anymore."

Anko took the scroll hesitantly, and noted the spiral that sealed the scroll. She didn't say anything, but nodded as she put the scroll away for now.

Kurenai only looked at the scroll for a short moment before Anko put it away, but she was still able to see the spiral that kept the scroll close. She said nothing as well, but spoke up for a moment to avoid the awkward silence. "So…Anko has graciously agreed to let me be Naruto's instructor when he becomes a genin and when I become a Jonin."

Tsume raised an eyebrow and looked at the pair curiously. "Oh? Do tell." She motioned for Kurenai and Anko to go on.

Anko sighed once more. "Yeah…After today, she has it set in stone that she won't be allowing me to be Naruto's instructor when he graduates." She then smiled slightly, nodding in agreement. "Though, it's probably for the best."

Tsume nodded as well. "I'd think so. Hey, I have a son about Naruto's age. They'll probably get along well too. Maybe they'll be teamed up later." She said with a grin.

"Yeah." Anko said in response. "Well, we have to get going, make sure that Naruto heals right…" She laughed sheepishly as she looked at Naruto, who was still under Hana's care. The Inuzuka girl didn't want to give Naruto up, it seemed, but she knew that the boy had to return home with his mother eventually. With a little trouble, Hana handed Naruto back to Kurenai. "Don't worry" Kurenai said with a smile, taking Naruto away from Hana. "When he wakes up and recovers, he can see his Angel again." The red-eyed woman laughed as she walked out of the house next to a laughing Anko, leaving Hana blushing as Tsume raised an eyebrow at the name.

Kurenai and Anko returned home with Naruto, only to see Ibiki at the door waiting for them. Anko simply sighed and began to tell the tale of the day's events.

~Omake – Nonstop nightmares. Effects of Anko's poisons.~

Naruto was running through the streets of Konoha as fast as his little legs could take him. It wasn't all that fast, as the poisons that were in his body were already affecting him on a physical level. His vision was already starting to get blurry, and his limbs were heavy. His thinking was also slowed, but he was still at least somewhat capable in his current form.

Earlier in the day, Naruto had been told by his adoptive mother that he was going to go through Immunity training, and what he had inside of him would be able to help him get through it faster than normal people. Of course, they both knew that she was referring to the fox, but neither felt like saying it out loud.

Anko wanted to make it interesting, though, and told Naruto to run while she chased him and threw senbon dipped in the various poisons. She ensured him that she had deadly accuracy, and wouldn't hit him anywhere dangerous.

With each passing second, Naruto's body became less and less responsive to his brain, moving on its own, and his vision was changing and distorting all of the time, making it difficult to stay in a straight line. However, he was able to make out the presence of Kurenai, and made an effort to get behind her. Rapid healing helped his body become immune faster, but it didn't make the process any less painful. Hopefully Kurenai could help him stay away from Anko…for a while.

Naruto felt himself being moved, but with his current situation, he wasn't sure if it was his body moving on its own, or if someone was moving him. Suddenly, he felt several sharp pains in his back, and when that happened, his vision returned, but the hallucinogens also kicked in at the same time.

Naruto believed that he could hear something, almost like a faded and distant bark, and the little boy looked up at one of the rooftops to see three dogs running and jumping around as if gravity didn't have a hold on them. To him, it was like they were flying.

"Flying puppies…" He muttered, trying to keep his head up. When he was let go from Kurenai's grasp, the little boy decided to follow the pups, trying to keep up with them while on the ground.

It was difficult, but he managed to keep his eyes on the pups, and followed them through the village, seeing many odd things as he walked around. Some people had off colored hair, or extremely large eyes, and some looked outright cartoony. Some people lacked faces, but he could tell that all of them were looking at him with distain and anger.

He tried his best to focus on the dogs, but the looks that he felt he was getting were starting to eat away at him. He couldn't escape the feeling of the village's anger this time, so he just had to endure it.

Eventually he reached the outskirts of the village, and many more odd things began to happen around him. Colors were changing, people were starting to become more distorted than before, and he felt immense pain, yet no pain at all, at the same time.

He was in the area where the training grounds were, and the pups that he was following were now on the ground in front of him, leading him to a vacant training ground.

Naruto had no idea where he was going, but he knew that he wanted to follow the pups and get to them. They seemed somewhat familiar, but he couldn't place why he felt he had seen them before, or where he had seen them.

Naruto arrived at the training ground, which was surrounded by a tall fence that had multiple warning signs. Naruto, unable to read, having never really been properly taught, only knowing what he had been taught by those kind to him, or having learned on his own through great effort, and this was made harder in his current condition, couldn't read the signs, but he assumed that they were welcoming him into the training grounds.

Naruto watched as the pups crawled through a small opening at the bottom of the fence, and the boy followed them without care.

As soon as he walked through, the pups began to move faster, and it became harder for Naruto to keep up with them. The air around him was dangerous and dark, but also calming in an odd way. The forest that he was in was almost untouched by human hands. The animals here lived and hunted by themselves, growing and adapting to their dangerous homes appropriately. This was as natural as nature could get, with the exception of the main tree at the center which also acted as a tower.

Even away from all of the people, Naruto still felt the air of hatred surrounding him. Because there was hardly anything else for his young brain to focus on, it was eating away at him much quicker than in the village. It was starting to make him violently uncomfortable, and he just wished that his new mother, Anko, could come in and take away the pain.

"_You'd like that, huh?"_ A familiar voice said, venom dripping from every word. _"For me to just come on in, and save your ass like before. Learn to take care of yourself better, you little shit." _

Naruto was sure he knew the voice, but he had never heard Anko say anything in that sort of tone with him. He was sure, though, that her words were filled with the same hatred and malice that the rest of the village had. He didn't like this, and he wanted it to stop.

"_Stop?"_ The vision of Anko said with a laugh, appearing in front of Naruto with a look of hate. _"It's too much fun to see the demon of Konoha cry like a baby, so why would we stop?"_

Kurenai, Ibiki, Neko, and Inu all appeared, giving the boy similar looks of hate. He couldn't see Neko and Inu's faces, but he was sure that they felt the same way that the vision of Anko did.

"_Do you really think we care about you? We're just making you comfortable so we can knock you back to the ground again and see you in pain. You killed so many people, and since you're just one monster, we'll hurt you ten times over for every person you killed."_

Ibiki stepped up, giving Naruto a glare of hate that could be replicated by no other. _"I was going to kill you and rip you apart when I saw you at Anko's house, but it would be much more painful for you to let you suffer by people you thought cared about you." _

"_You're an idiot, my _dear_ godson. To even think that people would care about you. The Ichirakus only like you because you give them money, and the Hokage can't stand you."_ Kurenai spat out, looking at Naruto with a harsh expression. He was currently on the ground crying, surrounded by the hallucinations of the people he cared about.

Hiruzen Sarutobi moved the others aside, getting a good look at Naruto. _"To think that I would actually care for filth like you. The only reason I do anything for you is to look good in front of everyone else, to make it seem like I am kind enough to like someone like you. You killed hundreds of my people, and the yondaime himself. Scum like you shouldn't exist."_

Everyone took turns saying harsh, hurtful, and hateful things to Naruto, the boy turning into a sobbing mess. He didn't know that it was all a hallucination, and believed that everyone he thought cared for him actually didn't care for him at all. He thought that everyone turned on him, that he was truly alone in the world.

Nearby, a rather large panther with pitch black fur was able to hear the sobbing mess that was Naruto, and stalked over to the boy. It watched carefully as Naruto lay on the ground, crying and sobbing uncontrollably as he attempted to say something that the panther could not understand, just as Naruto was beginning pass out from the overload of emotional pain. The animal could feel the air of hurt and pain that Naruto was giving off, and stalked closer to him, keeping its eye on the human child. It had taken note of the extra presences in the area, and knew that it had to be quick, so that neither it nor the boy would be eaten or hurt.

The panther lowered its head and bit down on the collar of Naruto's jumpsuit, the boy being lighter than it expected the boy to be. The large cat picked its head back up, raising Naruto off of the ground by a good two feet. It then heard something whizzing through the air, and quickly dropped Naruto to run off. It had planned on going back for the boy once it was safe, but at the moment it had to hide.

Naruto felt that he was falling, but he had given up on life, and didn't care if he hit the ground or not. However, he never hit the ground like he expected to. Still, he didn't seem to care, and lay lifelessly in the arms of whoever was holding them. They were probably taking him somewhere where they could beat him up, and he didn't see the point of resisting. Suddenly, he felt at ease, and all of his troubles went away. He couldn't understand what this feeling was, but he liked it and enjoyed it. He even purred in the arms of the woman holding him, and he looked up at her only to see the face of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He smiled slightly, as he could see the woman's distinct red markings on her face. "Angel…" He said quietly before drifting into unconsciousness. All of his troubles were eased at the moment, and he didn't care what else happened around him.

~Omake – Gossip in Konoha. The whiskered boy that purrs!~

It had been a little more than a day since the young Kiba Inuzuka saw the blonde boy about his own age. He had never seen the boy before, but his features stood out to him. He had blonde hair that was certainly different then a Yamanaka's, three marks somewhat similar to his own that looked like whiskers, and he purred like a cat. The last one made Kiba laugh every time he thought about it, and he knew that he had to tell someone about it.

Kiba was with his friends at the Akamichi BBQ restaurant with his friends and an older Inuzuka clan member. The other member of his clan was there to 'watch over the kids', so they didn't get into trouble, and throughout the day they hadn't done much.

It was a little past noon, and the group would have been at the restaurant earlier if they hadn't been so caught up in the games that they played. For now, they were hungry, and the Older Inuzuka member offered to pay for the meals of the kids that didn't have any money on them.

As they all sat at the table, Kiba thought back to the blonde boy, and laughed again. He thought it was incredibly silly how a boy could purr like that, and he knew that he had to tell his friends about it, so they could laugh too.

"Hey guys!" He said excitedly, and rather loudly as well. "There was this kid at my house yesterday, and he purrs like a cat!" He laughed, and so did all of the other boys in the group, but the girls simply looked at him in curiosity, wanting to hear more about this adorable sounding boy.

Kiba picked up on the looks that he was getting, and smiled more. "Yeah, he had bright blonde hair and whiskers on his face! My sister was holding him and petting his face, making him purr!" He couldn't stop laughing. It was the most ridiculous thing to him, but the people around him didn't think quite like he did.

A few tables away, one Ino Yamanaka sat with her friends, discussing all of the things that they had heard from other people. Ino's eyes widened upon hearing about a purring boy from the other table, and stayed quiet in order to listen in. Apparently, he was with a woman in a tan jacket, and another woman with long hair and red eyes, possibly people he lived with or was friends with.

Ino then talked about this purring boy with her friends, and it seemed that some of them had actually seen the boy on the streets. He had bright blue eyes and a smile that never went away. They all agreed to spread this around, so that they could find this mysterious purring boy easier.

In another table a little ways away, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akamichi were talking to and eating across from one another. Beside them were their mothers, Yoshino and Ume respectively. The two older women were talking to each other about simple things, like what would they be cooking for dinner, how the family is, and how to keep your lazy-ass husband in line when he needs to be.

Both the boys and the mothers were able to overhear Kiba, and eventually Ino, talk about this fabled whiskered boy, and while Ume and Yoshino knew who they were talking about, they were relatively quiet about the subject, instead talking about his two mentioned companions, the one with the coat and the one with the eyes.

Shikamaru sighed, looking at his friend across the table. Choji looked back and stopped eating for just a moment. "Should we find this guy and help him?" Choji asked.

Shikamru sighed once more and nodded lazily. "Sure, Whatever."

~Later, at the Inuzuka compound~

Kiba walked back to the clan compound next to the other member of his clan, still thinking about the odd boy he had only seen for a moment.

As he walked into the compound, the first person he could see was his older sister, who had a leather belt in her hands, snapping it against her hand as she looked at him with a mad smirk.

"Word travels fast, little brother. And I'm sure the whole village is going to hear about my new coat once I tan your hide!" She dashed after him, giving him a little time to react so that it could be a fun chase for her.

This went on for quite a while, Hana chasing Kiba around the compound with the belt, lashing out at him with it whenever she got close enough. She could have easily caught him, but she stayed at her current pace to scare her brother, and to make sure that he didn't spread rumors around ever again. The twisted smirk on her face made sure of it.

**Well everyone! That's a wrap for this chapter, and honestly, I don't think that I'll be making the time skips as frequent as I thought. There's just so much that's going to happen, and really, the next few chapters are going to be jam packed with stuff.**

**That's all because of my friend and Beta, Ogremen. He's helped me come up and shape so many ideas for this Fanfic and others that I'm working on, and I can't thank him enough. Because of him, this fic will be much longer and more thought out than I planned on it being. I suggest you check out his profile, because he's an awesome guy to talk and collaborate with, and he has great challenges that could sinspire some people.**

**Until next time!**


	9. The Game

Several girls and young women prowled the streets. There were about five or six in each group, and they all combed the streets on the hunt for a boy who was rumored to live in Konoha. They had all heard it from one person or another, but didn't know that the source of the rumor was a little Inuzuka boy who was the same age of the boy they were after. They wanted to see this adorable little person and pet his whiskers to make him purr

Most of the groups had both Shinobi and civilian girls, but the all Shinobi groups took to the rooftops while the mixed and civilian groups stayed on the ground.

One girl was on the hunt for Naruto as well, but she had different intentions from the others. She had to find Naruto to warn him about the people trying to find him, as she knew that they would never let him go if they got a hold of him. Hana Inuzuka had to protect the blonde boy that purrs.

Naruto was sleeping soundly in the arms of Anko. The Snake Mistress was sitting on her couch, quietly talking with Kurenai, who sat on the other side of the couch. Ibiki had left a few minutes ago. Anko and Kurenai both told the interrogator about what events took place throughout the day. He was satisfied with what he had heard, and was glad that Anko learned her lesson about rushing into things.

They had both found out early on that they weren't to leave Naruto alone. When Anko set him down on the bed, the little boy began to shake and stir. It was obvious by the changing expressions on his face that whatever dream he had would quickly turn into a nightmare. Once she picked him back up, he became peaceful again, and the look of pain on his face was replaced with a small smile. Kurenai held him as well, getting the same reaction. Whatever was going on in his head seemed to be dependent on if he was being held or not.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and the two conscious people in the room turned their heads towards the door.

Kurenai stood up and looked at Anko. "I'll go get it." She said as she walked to the door. The genjutsu mistress opened the door to see a slightly out of breath Hana and her pups on the other side.

Hana panted and looked up to see Kurenai. It wasn't the woman that she was expecting or hoping for, but she was good enough. Not only was she tired from running around to find Anko and Naruto, but she was also chasing Kiba to get back at him for spreading the rumor. It had only been a few hours, and it was almost reaching the end of the day, and the rumor had already spread all throughout the village.

"Hana?" Kurenai asked, a look of confusion on her face. "What are you doing here? Why are you out of breath?"

Hana stood straight up and looked at Kurenai. She was still panting, but not enough so that she couldn't be heard. "I need to find Naruto. Warn him."

Kurenai looked at her with curiosity. She didn't know what Hana needed to warn him about, as she hadn't heard anything relating to Naruto through the day, but it seemed important, and Kurenai moved to let her inside. "He's still asleep, but Anko's awake."

Hana stepped inside and looked around. It was a nice little home. It wasn't as clean as her home, but was still nice and tidy. She then looked at Anko, who was holding the sleeping Naruto in her arms. The little boy was holding onto to her, and a small smile was visible on his face. It was a lovely sight, causing Hana to smile warmly.

Anko looked at Hana curiously. She was able to hear what Hana said outside, and motioned for the genin to come over to her.

"What's going on?" She asked casually.

Hana glanced at Naruto briefly, before her gaze returned to Anko. "There are girls everywhere, all looking for Naruto. Civilians, shinobi, everyone. We have to keep them away from Naruto, since I think they'll never let him go if they get their hands on him."

Anko raised a curious eyebrow. She wanted to know why all of these people were after her little Naruto, more importantly why they were all women…Her look was caught by Hana, who nodded. "My brother saw us at the compound, and must have seen Kaa-san pet Naruto's whiskers. He spread the rumor about Naruto." She told them, remembering that her brother had told her everything that he had told his friends and the people around him. "He also mentioned you and Kurenai."

Anko looked at Hana with a deadpan expression. "They're after him to pet him?" She asked bland tone of voice. Hana nodded, making Anko sigh. "Great. They know about us, and if they don't they'll ask around to find us to find him." Anko stood up slowly and put Naruto in Hana's arms, much to the Inuzuka's surprise.

"What are you doing?" Hana asked, glancing down at Naruto.

Anko moved around the house, shuffling things around and pulling out scrolls from hiding spots. The scrolls were completely blank, and had no distinct makings on them. "Making Naruto disappear." She said simply, putting the scrolls in the pocket of her trench coat. Her hands joined together to make several hand signs. An exact replica of Anko poofed into existence beside the original, looking at her creator. The clone said nothing as she made a single handsign, transforming into Naruto before quickly leaving the house.

Hana looked at Anko with curiosity and confusion. "What was that? Clones shouldn't be able to _henge_."

Anko pulled the scrolls out once again and motioned for Hana to follow her through the house. "_Kage bunshin. _Forbidden and taxing version of the standard bunshin that pours a fair deal of chakra to make the clone solid. There's also a nifty feature that comes along with it, but I'll touch on it later." She told Hana as she went to the bedroom that she and Naruto shared. She still hadn't gotten around to getting another bed, even though she continued to tell herself that she would do it tomorrow.

Anko unrolled one of the scrolls and laid it on the ground. She then stood back up and went to her closet, where their clothes were. She took everything that Naruto owned and sealed them into the scrolls. Any evidence of Naruto being in her house was sealed into the scrolls. Hana simply watched in silence as she held Naruto, softly petting his whiskers. The boy purred softly, and nuzzled into Hana's hold.

"You don't mind holding these, do you?" Anko asked Hana, holding the scrolls to the girl that was petting her son.

Hana shook her head and looked down at herself. "Put them in my pockets." She said to Anko, who did as she was told and put them in the pockets of the cloak she wore. It was similar to the white cloak that med-nin wore, but was tailored more for battle and mobility. It had more pockets and places for storing things, and was made with the same materials that the Chunin and Jonin flak jackets were comprised of.

Anko made three more clones after putting the scrolls away, which all transformed into Naruto and left the house to distract the groups of girls that were looking for him.

"If I might ask…" Hana said, looking at Anko while still petting Naruto. "Why seal everything away and give them to me?"

Anko smirked and glanced down at Naruto. "I've seen the way you and your mother act around him. I'm sure that there are some Inuzuka girls after him." Her statement made Hana blush. "With their dogs and noses, it's only a matter of time before they track his scent and get here. If they come here and don't see a single thing suggesting that Naruto lives here, they'll assume that

he's just been here a lot, and not living with me. They'll probably find his old home and spend more time there before giving up for the day. We could maybe stay at your compound and Kurenai's place until this whole thing dies down."

Hana's eyes widened considerably. She hadn't thought about Inuzuka women going after Naruto as well, and she really should have thought of that first. There was also the problem of the Aburame girls as well, wanting to investigate the rumors of a boy who purred like a cat. While not insect-related, it was probably interesting enough to catch their bespectacled eyes. The Aburame women honestly scared her a little, but she had to worry about her own clan for the time being. She began to quickly move out to the living room, but slow enough for Anko to catch wind and follow her.

"What are you doing?" Anko asked, clearly confused.

"We're heading to the compound. If Inuzuka women are after him, like I bet they are, then we have to make sure that none of them mark him." Hana said, walking to the door at a pace just slow enough for Kurenai to open the door and get out of the way.

Kurenai and Anko followed Hana to the Inuzuka compound, both curious of what she was saying and what she was planning. In little time they arrived at the compound and came through the door.

When they got through the door, the Haimaru triplets ran into the compound and lay down. They had been rather quiet at Anko's house, which only meant that they had done something worth being punished for.

Tsume was in the living room at the time, reading over something while sitting next to her ninken, Kuromaru. She looked at the group that just entered the compound curiously. She took note of Naruto in Hana's arms, and the look of urgency on her daughter's face.

Hana looked at her mother and calmed down slightly. It wasn't good to just barge into the main building with a look that screamed she was going to do something important. Hana took a few steps forward and placed Naruto down in the center of the room. Naruto had calmed considerably in Hana's arms thanks to her petting him, but he was now shaking just the slightest bit. The Inuzuka girl bit her thumb and whistled, causing her ninken to surround Naruto's head and do the same with their paws.

Hana's thumb and the triplets' paws bled small amounts of blood. Slowly, Hana brought her thumb down to Naruto's forehead, where her hand was caught by her mother's, keeping her from making contact with Naruto.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Tsume asked seriously. She knew exactly what Hana was doing, but she needed Hana to explain herself.

She shook her head at her daughter. "I'm not letting you do this." She said sternly. "You're not marking him to keep him away from others."

"Didn't you hear me?!" Hana asked incredulously. "I'm beating them at their own game by doing this."

Meanwhile, Anko and Kurenai simply watched the arguing mother and daughter, some of the Inuzuka clan members walking into the main room to see what all the commotion was about.

"Can I ask what's going on?" Kurenai asked, getting Hana and Tsume's attention.

Tsume looked at the genjutsu mistress and took a deep breath. Several of the clan members were gathering around as well, some of them seeming to be the ones looking for Naruto by the way they were looking at the boy. "Hana wants to mark Naruto so nobody else can have him. If she did, it would be like marriage in the eyes of an Inuzuka. We mark him, he is essentially claimed by whoever marks him, and no other Inuzuka woman can have him. Or man, if they swing that way. The thing is, while Naruto can still marry someone else, Hana is bound to him by marking him. She can't have anyone else other than him." She released her daughter's hand and stood up, facing the Inuzuka members.

Hana didn't make the mark on Naruto's forehead, and instead whistled to the triplets to stop as well. They whimpered, but obeyed Hana.

"Alright, listen up everybody." Tsume said to the clan. "I will not have anyone in this clan chase after this little six year old like he's prey. Naruto, Anko, and Kurenai are all now official allies of the clan, and you will treat them like you would any other ally. If I even hear about one of you fawning over him like a stupid fan girl or a stalker, then that person will have kennel duty for a month with no use of the shovel…You got that?" She asked her clan, getting everyone to nod their heads.

Tsume looked down at her daughter and pulled her up. She smiled at the younger Inuzuka. "Pretty mature of you to sacrifice yourself to keep others away from him. You'll be a good clan leader when you get older." She nodded with a smile.

While the girls of the Inuzuka clan sighed in defeat, they knew that it was best to do what Tsume said and not go after him.

Not long after, Naruto, Anko, and Kurenai left the clan compound to go to Kurenai's house. The sun was beginning to set, and the two women were conversing softly in the living room.

Naruto was sleeping soundly in Kurenai's room, laying on her bed and recovering from the last of the poisons. His system had cleared out just about everything, but there were still a little bit of the poisons left in his body. He had calmed down considerably, and no longer needed to be held to keep calm.

He woke up with a slow start. His body hurt and burned all over, but it was a ghostly pain. He could still move just as well as he could before, and the pain wasn't enough to keep him from moving.

He groaned as his eyed opened. The ghostly pain he was feeling burned every part of his body, making the boy not want to move. Instead, he moved his eyes and looked around at the room he was in. It wasn't a place he was familiar with, and the bed had a different feel from the one she shared with Anko.

Naruto also felt indefinably uncomfortable. He had no words that could, or would, explain why he felt so out of place, and was even unable to do it within the confines of his mind.

Slowly, Naruto got off of the bed and continued to look around. He was worried and scared, but could not place why he had these feelings. He was in a somewhat panicked state, and began to move around the room, before making his way to the door. The door was open and Naruto walked through. He walked through the hallway only to find Kurenai and Anko speaking. They didn't seem to notice him, and neither of them turned to look at the boy. Upon seeing Anko, though, something happened in Naruto's mind, that made him run at Anko and tackle her into a fierce hug. He didn't say anything as he nuzzled into his mother, who was surprised to see him up and hugging her as tight as he was.

Anko didn't say anything, and in an instant her motherly instincts kicked in. She wrapped her arms around Naruto and held her close to her body. She didn't say anything either, and allowed a comfortable silence to consume the room. Kurenai watched with a warm smile, not saying anything to disturb the peace.

Anko was experiencing a feeling as well. This was truly the first time where Anko's motherly instincts kicked in. Her child was feeling awful about something, and she was there to make him feel better. It warmed her heart to see Naruto come right up to her and hug her with everything he had. He was obviously uncomfortable about something, but it didn't matter what that something was to Anko.

Several minutes passed and Naruto's grip on his mother began to loosen. He felt better with her right there, and all of his worries were washed away by her comforting embrace. Naruto looked up at Anko and cracked a small smile. Anko smiled back, and the two were still quiet until Naruto looked around and noticed Kurenai. "Where are we?" He asked her, in a cute, but curious, sounding way.

"This is Kurenai's house. You've become pretty popular within the last few hours, and people are all over the streets trying to find you so they could try to pet you." She replied with a grin and a small laugh. Naruto laughed as well, but it was filled with uncertainty and curiosity. He didn't understand why they wanted to pet him, and he wasn't awake or coherent enough to know that he purred when his whiskers were petted.

Kurenai smiled at her godson and stood up, glancing at the door. Naruto had a rough and stressful day, even if he wasn't awake for most of it. The genjutsu mistress walked over to the door and turned around to face the two others in her house. She looked at Naruto with the calm and motherly smile she always seemed to have.

"Let's head out to wherever Naruto wants to go and eat. My treat."

~A half hour later - Ichiraku Ramen~

At the Ichiraku Ramen shack, two young chunin women and one blond haired boy were sitting at the counter. Naruto sat on Anko's lap, looking adorable as he did so, and Kurenai to the left of Anko.

The two women watched in horror, and minor disgust, not to mention shock, as Naruto practically inhaled the noodles in each bowl of Ramen. He was currently on his twenty seventh bowl, and he showed no signs of stopping. Anko was astonished that one little boy could eat so much ramen, but he had also spent the entire day sleeping and fighting off the poisons that were in his body. He was drained of energy, and he needed to eat to get it all back. Kurenai, however, felt all of the money she had been saving up, being drained from her pockets. She'd had only a single bowl, and Anko also had one, but Naruto ate more than his weight in Ramen.

While the three sat at the counter, two people watched intently on the other side, keeping their eyes on Anko at almost all times. Teuchi and Ayame Ichiraku even had other workers take over operations in the back so they could spend their time silently evaluating Anko. Aside from Hiruzen, they were the closest people to Naruto, before Anko came along. They had to make sure she was worthy of being the mother of Naruto.

Anko could feel both sets of eyes staring at her, and if she was being honest with herself, she was extremely unnerved. The father-daughter duo had a glare so cold that it would make even Ibiki flinch. She knew that the Ichiraku family was close to Naruto, but she never would have assumed that they'd be judging her to see if she could watch over him and mother him, judging her worthiness of being Naruto's mother. She would have to make an effort to get them more involved in Naruto's life since, if they were judging her, it must mean they considered him family, and that was not something she was going to cut out of Naruto's life, after all, they were a part of his life, and so deserved to spend time with him just as much as her.

Well into the meal, Naruto began to slow down, making Teuchi and Ayame glance at the boy. Normally he ate anywhere from thirty to forty bowls at a time, but seventy four was a bit much for him.

"Hmm…" Kurenai hummed in thought. "I guess it makes sense. His body wasted too much energy today purging the poisons from his bod-mmph!" Kurenai was interrupted by Anko, who had her hand over Kurenai's mouth to keep her from speaking. The Ichiraku's glared at Anko even more. The glare was returned with a sheepish and nervous smile courtesy of Anko.

By the end of the night, the glares given out by Teuchi and Ayame were almost gone, and replaced with a look of satisfaction. This Anko woman seemed alright, if Kurenai was around her to keep her from doing stupid things all the time.

That night, Naruto and Anko stayed at Kurenai's house as a safety measurement. Even with the Inuzuka girls off of their trail, they still worried about the Aburame women that would be interested in his abnormal qualities. Because of Kurenai's persistence, the two of them took her bed while Kurenai took the couch. Anko tried to argue, but the godmother wasn't going to let Naruto sleep on the couch, even though Anko would be open to the idea.

The next day, Naruto and Anko had a small breakfast with Kurenai before heading back to their home. When they got there, Anko spotted a few signs of people going through their house, and told Naruto to take notes. The signs were subtle, but Anko knew that several people went through their house throughout the previous day.

Anko had forgotten that she had left all of Naruto's belongings with Hana, so the two of them left to go to the Inuzuka compound to retrieve the scrolls. Hana happily went to go get the scrolls, and in the time that she was gone, Naruto played with the Haimaru triplets. He loved the little pups, and it seemed that they enjoyed his presence as well. Tsume was out of the house at the moment, apparently, she was called to the Hokage because of an emergency meeting. She had been out all morning, and it was up to Hana to watch over Kiba until she came back.

Hana walked into the main room where Naruto, the pups, and Anko were. She smiled at the little boy playing with her pups before looking up at Anko. She handed the scrolls to her and nodded. "I guess it was a good thing that I held onto them overnight. Scrolls don't have scents of the things that are inside them, other than dried ink, I guess."

Hana looked at Naruto again, and smiled at the boy who was playing with the little dogs. "It looks like he's recovered from the poisons." She said happily, getting Anko to nod in agreement.

"Yeah, he woke up last night. Kurenai took us out to eat, and the gaki practically drained her pockets with all the food he ate." Anko said with a laugh, remembering how she had to split the check with Kurenai to keep the red eyed woman from going bankrupt.

"How much did he eat?" Hana asked, genuinely curious now.

"Eighty three bowls." Anko responded with a grin, making Hana look at her with wide eyes. Anko simply nodded. "Yeah, apparently he eats about thirty to forty normally, but since he was hungry from wiping the poison out, he ate a lot more than usual."

Hana couldn't believe it. "How can a single person eat that much? How can a six year old eat that much?" She asked incredulously, sneaking a look at Naruto to make sure he was alright.

"High metabolism. Not really sure what else to say other than that." Anko replied, turning to look at Naruto. "Come on Naruto, let's head home. We can come back later."

Naruto whined, and the pups seemed to understand the situation, as they were whimpering. Hana smiled and picked up the pups, piling them into her arms. "You can see them later, Naruto." Hana told the little boy. Reluctantly, Naruto agreed and followed Anko out the door.

Outside, the two of them walked out of the compound side by side. As they reached the gates, they were able to see Tsume walking back. Clearly the was thinking about something, but not enough so that she would run into anyone. As they passed Tsume, the Inuzuka matriarch shot a glance at Anko, who caught it and returned it. Something important happened during that meeting, and Anko would have to come back to the compound to talk about it.

A few weeks later, Naruto and Anko were relaxing at their house. For the past few weeks, Anko had been training Naruto in becoming a smart and capable ninja. He had done exercises to make him think faster and remember things better. One of them was that Anko would henge into a person, any person, and Naruto would only be able to look at whoever she was transformed into before she took off and hid somewhere in the village. He had to comb the village and breakneck speeds and looked at every person on every street to see if it was Anko, he also had to use this to hide in the open, so as to avoid the fan girls and stalkers still looking for him. The first few times be had done it, there were no added challenges or things to make it more difficult for him, but Anko started to make all similar exercises timed, so he would only have a certain amount of time to find this random person who was hiding somewhere in the village, or something along similar lines like going from point A to point B in X number of seconds or minutes.

It was currently the early afternoon, and Naruto was resting on the couch and watching the television while Anko cooked lunch for them both. A knocking sound came from the door, and Naruto looked over at it. The knocking continued, and Anko spoke up to him from the kitchen.

"Naruto, can you go get the door?" Anko asked.

Naruto nodded and sat up slowly, groaning in pain because of his sore body. "I've got it." He told her back.

The little boy moved to the door and opened it. Like when he looked at most people, he had to look up to see their face. The woman before him had black hair that went down to her back, dark, almost black eyes, and a pale complexion. She wore a tan apron and a pale purple long sleeve shirt. Beside her was a little boy about his own age that also had black hair and eyes, and wore a black shirt with a high collar and grey shorts.

The older woman smiled down at Naruto, examining the boy. "Hello Naruto." She said warmly. "My name is Mikoto Uchiha. Can my son and I come in?" She asked.

Naruto wasn't sure what to say, so he thought it over for a moment. "I'll be right back!" He said to the two, leaving to go to the kitchen.

The little boy beside Mikoto looked up at his mother. "That's Naruto?" He asked her curiously. Mikoto nodded back to him, and the two waited.

"Kaa-san! Theres a lady who says she's an Uchiha and she wants to know my name!" He said loud enough for Mikoto and Sasuke to hear outside.

Naruto walked into the kitchen, looking at Anko who was cooking the food for them. Anko stopped cooking and made a few discreet handsigns before walking over to the door to see Mikoto and Sasuke.

"You must be Anko." Mikoto said. Sasuke looked at Anko with curiosity, and took note of her provocative clothing, but didn't look long enough to be dubbed a pervert or anything of the sort.

"Yeah, I am." Anko replied cautiously. She didn't seem to mean harm, and wasn't anywhere near as cold nor as arrogant as the Uchiha normally were. "And if you don't mind, who are you?"

Mikoto shook her head. "Not at all. As I told Naruto, I'm Mikoto Uchiha. Fugaku's wife." She told Anko, getting her to nod slightly. Mikoto put her hand on Sasuke's shoulder and looked down at her son. "This is Sasuke, my youngest son."

"Well, you obviously already know who I am, and who Naruto is, would you like to come in, I guess?" She wasn't the best with the whole formal thing, so she was just doing what she thought was respectable. Anko moved to the side of the door and motioned for the two of them to come in. Sasuke and Mikoto bowed in respect and walked inside.

Sasuke didn't really have friends, and didn't know that many people outside of the clan that were his own age. He hadn't been in a common house before, and it was surely interesting to him. It wasn't nearly as big as the compound, but everything that he had, they had just in a much smaller space.

Sasuke looked at Naruto and took in his distinct features. "I'm Sasuke." He said simply.

Naruto smiled at Sasuke and waved at him. "I'm Naruto! So you're a part of the Uchiha clan?" He asked.

Sasuke returned Naruto's smile with one of his own, and nodded. "Yeah. Tou-san is the clan head, and one day my brother Itachi is going to be the clan head!"

Naruto went wide-eyed. Be believed that it was cool to be related to someone who was the leader of something, and the only thing cooler than a clan leader was the Hokage. "That's cool! Do you wanna watch the TV?" He asked.

Sasuke nodded and the two of them sat on the couch and watched the television. Meanwhile, Mikoto and Anko watched the two briefly before continuing their conversation. "Could we talk somewhere private?" Mikoto asked, glancing at her son and Naruto, talking and watching the television.

Anko looked at her with curiosity and confusion. "Sure?" She replied, walking to the kitchen so she could talk and continue cooking. "What did you want to talk about?"

Mikoto followed Anko into the kitchen and glanced back out to the living room before looking back at the snake mistress. "I'm so glad that you've taken Naruto in. I would have done the same thing if Fugaku had allowed it." She started off, getting Anko's attention. "I knew Kushina, you know."

"Did you now?" Anko asked, now even more interested in what Mikoto had to say.

Mikoto nodded. "I did. We were good friends, and nothing hurt more than when her burden escaped and killed her and several more in the village. When it was stated that she was dead, I wanted to help Naruto in any way that I could, but I was tied up from doing so for one reason or another. For that I'm sorry." She bowed to Anko, who wasn't really sure how to respond.

"I see." Anko said. She wasn't really sure what else to say. "Well, is there anything else that you'd like to talk about?"

Mikoto nodded. "Yes, actually." She said to the younger woman. "Fugaku was at a meeting earlier this week, and the main topic was about your son, Naruto." This caught Anko's attention once more, and her cooking slowed down considerably. "About a month ago, a similar meeting was called to order, and only the members of the shinobi clans attended. Hokage-sama told the people of the shinobi council about Naruto's heritage, and that he was going to reveal that information sometime in the future to the public."

Anko nodded. "Yeah. Tsume told me about the meeting the day it took place."

Mikoto then continued, taking note of what Anko said. "Good, then I believe that you should know that Hokage-sama took a vote with the people of the council, asking them if you and Naruto should be given the Uzumaki property ahead of time."

"Why would he ask the council before asking me? This is about me and my son after all." She wanted to know why she wasn't told first, and she wanted to know why as soon as possible.

Mikoto nodded. "He wanted to surprise you. But with everything Naruto has gone through, I believe that the two of you should know as soon as it's brought up."

Anko smiled at Mikoto. "Well thanks for telling me. I'm still thinking of a way to tell Naruto about his parents, so maybe I could do it at their old house."

Mikoto believed that it was a good idea, and nodded with a smile on her face as she stepped out of the kitchen, being followed by Anko. "I think that's a good idea. I believe I've kept you long enough, so we'll be going now."

Naruto and Sasuke were still talking and watching the television. Mikoto was sure that the two of them were going to be great friends in the future. "Sasuke! We've got to go. You can come back another day, or maybe he can come to the compound?" She looked at Anko, who nodded in agreement.

"Okay Kaa-san." Sasuke said calmly. He liked his new friend Naruto, but he wasn't going to argue about it, as he knew that his mother could be scary if not obeyed. He turned back to Naruto and smiled at him. "I'll see you later!" He said as he hopped off the couch and walked out of the house with his mother.

Several days later, Naruto was spending another day relaxing in the house he shared with Anko. The two of them finally decided to take everything from his old house and move some things into the house he lived in now. Before he lived with Anko, he lived in the red light district, a less reputable area of Konoha that housed even less reputable people. In all actuality, the people there in the district treated Naruto rather fairly. They saw no reason to harm or cause misfortune to a child, and were even the people who had given Naruto his first houseplant. Prostitutes, black market dealers, addicts, all of the shadier people of society, weren't as bad as people thought.

Naruto was twirling a kunai in between his fingers as he looked up at the ceiling. A little more than a week ago, Anko decided to get him started on weapons training. He hadn't done much with weapons before, as he still had to learn about fighting and the various styles he could use. Not to mention jutsu as well. She had tried to teach him her person fighting style, a variant on the snake style that Orochimaru had taught her, but Naruto's body wasn't as thin or as flexible as hers, so that style was difficult for him. He could get a few of the forms down, but he wouldn't be able to master it as quickly as she did.

"Kaa-san?" Naruto spoke up looking at Anko, who was sitting on the other side of the couch. "I'm bored."

Anko looked at her son and shrugged at him. "Well what do you want to do?" She just wanted to lounge around all day, but if Naruto was going to do something, then she might as well be a part of it.

Naruto was silent for a moment before catching the kunai. "I know! I want to learn that card game that they played near my old house. The people had two cards and put money on the table and a guy with a green hat kept doing this little thing just before this one guy with a red headband got the money!"

Anko arched an eyebrow. "You want to learn poker?" She asked him, getting the boy to nod. Anko shrugged and stood up. "Alright. I think I have some cards around here somewhere. Anko soon found a deck of cards and produced two clones. "You'll be playing against my clones, okay?" She sat down on the floor and patted a spot in front of her for Naruto to sit down.

Once they were all situated, Anko began to shuffle the cards before dealing two out to the three players around her. "Alright, so everyone gets two cards, and at the start, two cards are put down on the table. Take a look at the cards you have, but don't let anyone see your cards."

She went on and explained how Poker worked, and Naruto seemed to have gotten the hang of it relatively well. She had even played a small game with him, which he won. Anko was a little surprised, but it seemed like he could actually be good at the game.

Suddenly, Ibiki appeared at the door, and knocked before letting himself in. Anko didn't have a problem with it, as she did the same things at Ibiki's and Kurenai's house all the time.

"Anko what are you doing?" He asked in a gruff tone of voice, as he looked around the room, taking in the obvious gambling game.

"I'm just teaching the kid poker. He asked to be taught, and who am I to let him walk into a poker game some time from now, and lose all of his money cause he doesn't know how to play?" Anko asked with a smile. This made Ibiki silent for a moment, and the two's eyes connected for what seemed like an eternity.

Ibiki sighed and stood next to Anko. "If you're going to teach him, you might as well do it right." This earned him a glare from Anko.

An hour passed and Naruto was proving to be quite the skilled Poker player. His face constantly showed several emotions, switching between them every half second. It was impossible to tell if he was bluffing or not, and he always raised the betting amount when he had the chance.

What made Ibiki and Anko interested was that the boy seemed to win every game of poker somehow, even when Anko was dealing the cards in favor to the other players. They couldn't explain it, but it was obvious that he had an inexplicable amount of luck.

Someone else knocked on the door, and all attention was moved to whoever might be on the other side. Anko told the person that the door was open, and soon after, Kurenai entered the house.

The woman was quite surprised to see Ibiki, three Anko's, and Naruto all on the ground playing poker.

"You're teaching him how to gamble!?" She asked incredulously.

Anko shrugged casually and took a glance at Naruto. "In a few years he is going to be gambling with his life on missions, so I might as well teach him how to gamble with money."

Kurenai sighed, but turned to Ibiki, who looked at her and said, "Watch the kid. He's won every game so far."

With another Sigh, Kurenai sat down and watched. The played another small game and Naruto won once more. Kurenai knew a little about playing poker, but she didn't know all of the ins and outs. She did, however, understand that Naruto was making stupid decisions and still coming out on top, even without realizing it.

Groaning in frustration, Ibiki stood up and put his hand on Naruto shoulder. "That's it. We're taking him into an actual game with different players and a different dealer." Anko didn't disagree, and the group left the house to go get some other friends of Anko's, two of them being Kakashi and Yugao, who were both pulled off of ANBU and moved to Jonin rank. They were given some time to relax before they were to be but on a long-term mission.

Naruto won that game as well, making it known to Ibiki, Kurenai, and Anko, that he was impossibly good at poker, and not to be played against.

Naruto was loved by Lady Luck.

The Next day, Ibiki and Kurenai came back to Anko's house to find other ways to test his luck.

A few hours had passed since then, and Ibiko groaned as he paced around. He stopped once he got an idea, and walked over to Ank and Kurenai. "Alright. It's time to up the ante." He told them, getting their attention.

"What do you have in mind?" Anko asked.

"We've already done everything we can think of." Kurenai added. It was well into the day by now, and they were out of ideas.

"I say that we convince the Hokage to let Anko play in the weekly Shinobi council poker game. While not revealed to the public, Hokage-sama seems to have made it official in the eyes of the shinobi council members, so she should be able to get into the game." Ibiki explained, getting Anko to nod with a smile.

Kurenai was still curious about one thing. "But If Anko is going, how will this test Naruto's luck?

Anko laughed and shook her head. "I guess it would be pretty unfortunate if I were to get sick just before the game, forcing Naruto, the clan heir, to take my place at the game." This caused Kurenai to grin like a Cheshire cat.

And so it happened.

Anko Ibiki and Kurenai were able to convince the Hokage to let the Uzumaki/Namikaze clan into the weekly poker game, and Ibiki and Anko continued to play with Naruto to make sure that he was at the top of his game by the end of the week.

The day of the game, Anko slowly came to the Hokage's office. Once she was let in, she walked to the center of the room, bent over slightly and covered in a rather large blanket. She looked much more pale than usual, and it was obvious that she was sick.

"Anko? Are you alright?" Hiruzen asked, watching Anko struggle to stay up.

"No, not really. I don't know what happened, but as you can see, I'm sick." Anko told Hiruzen in a stuffy voice, wobbling from side to side. "I can't make it to the poker game tonight."

Hiruzen nodded in understanding. "I see. Well, I hope that you get better soon, Anko. Hopefully you can make it to the next one."

Anko nodded back, but was silent for a moment. "Hokage-sama. Can I ask of something from you?"

Hiruzen thought it over before nodding. "What is it, Anko?"

"Can Naruto take my place in the poker game?" She pleaded with the fire shadow.

Hiruzen looked at her confused. "Naruto? I think he's a little young to be playing a game like poker, and he'll be around people much older than himself."

"Please Hokage-sama." She begged. "I want for the Uzumaki clan to be represented at this game, and since it is his family, he deserves to be in the game."

Hiruzen stayed quiet while thinking. He wasn't sure what to tell the woman before him, and slowly nodded. "He can come to the game. I'll make sure that everyone is aware beforehand."

With a smile, as she was hiding a grin, Anko thanked the Hokage. "Thank you, I'll be sure to tell him."

In the back of Hiruzen's mind, a little voice was telling him that allowing Naruto to play in the poker game was the worst decision he had ever made, but he wasn't the Hokage for nothing, and assured himself that nothing wrong could happen by letting a little boy play a game of cards.

He was just a boy.

Later that night, all of the shinobi clan heads gathered together at the Sarutobi household. The location of the weekly poker game was on a rotation, with this week being the home of Hiruzen. The order of the rotation has been the same way ever since Hiruzen was young, with it being Sarutobi, Uchiha, Yamanaka, Nara, Akimichi, Inuzuka, and Aburame.

When Kushina came to Konoha and her clan was recognized on the council, her clan was put in between Sarutobi and Uchiha, but was removed from the rotation upon her death.

Anko walked with Naruto to the Sarutobi compound. Of course her sickly appearance had gotten worse over the day, to fool everyone in Konoha other than Kurenai and Ibiki. Naruto truly believed that she was sick with something, and tried to argue when she came along with him. Inside, she was grinning like the cat that ate the canary at how she was able to fool her son with her act as well.

The two of them arrived at the Sarutobi compound, only to see a woman in her early or mid-twenties holding a child in her arms standing outside at the front door.

The woman smiled at Naruto and Anko, waving at them with her free hand. "Hello! You must be Naruto and Anko. Tou-san is inside with the other clan heads"

The two waved back, Naruto smiling and looking at the baby in her arms with interest.

"Hello." Anko said with a groggy voice. She then lightly pushed Naruto to go forward. "Come on, let's go inside."

"I'll lead you to where they are." The woman offered with a smile, getting Anko to nod.

Naruto nodded as well, and they all walked inside. They were a little late because Anko was feigning sickness, so they were the last ones to arrive. Once they arrived at the room they would be playing at, Anko took note of the young glasses-wearing shinobi that seemed to be the dealer of this game. He had his Konohagakure headband plate attached to a bandana. He was currently shuffling the cards, and looked up to see Anko and Naruto. He was aware of Naruto being of high importance, but refused to believe it, as the boy was just a ruffian in his eyes, and so glared at the boy, plus, as far as he knew, or cared, the boy was the fox, what more was there to him then that…

The clan heads all looked at Anko and Naruto upon noticing them, and took in Anko's appearance. Hiruzen had told them all that Anko was sick, and could not play, so Naruto would be taking her spot. They were alright with allowing Anko to play, as she was the clan head of the Uzumaki clan at the moment, but they weren't sure about letting Naruto play, though. Hiruzen told them to let the boy have his fun, and to let him play. They relented to the Hokage's request, some of them reluctantly.

Fugaku didn't see the point in letting a boy play a game clearly meant for adults, but he had to humor Hiruzen for a little while longer, so he agreed to let Naruto stay.

Tsume didn't see any harm in it, and neither did Choza. Shibi didn't really say anything on the matter, and as usual, was indifferent. Inoichi was on the fence about it, but eventually agreed as well. Shikaku seemed to be the only one curious about the whole thing, but believed it was too troublesome to argue over.

"Anko." Hiruzen said calmly. "What are you doing here? I believe you should be at home resting."

Anko shook her head and looked at all of the clan heads, including Naruto who had taken a seat in between Shibi and Choza. "I just walked him over here. I'll watch a game or two before heading back home." She told them, coughing to make her act seem more believable.

Hiruzen was quiet for a moment before he nodded. "Okay, but I do believe that you should head home soon. It isn't good to be walking around when you're sick, especially with how sick you are at the moment."

Anko nodded back and remained silent, walking over to Tsume and whispering something audible only to her sensitive ears. "I wouldn't bet too much if I were you." She said in a clear and quiet voice, betraying her sickly appearance.

Tsume nodded only slightly, getting wind of what was going on.

"If you're all ready to play?" Ebisu asked, getting everyone's attention.

The clan heads nodded all around the table at the same time, with Naruto being the last one to nod. Ebisu then proceeded to deal out two cards to everyone. Everyone took their cards and looked around at one another. Everyone had their poker faces on, except for Naruto, who showed a wide range of emotion.

Hiruzen, who sat next to Ebisu, was quiet. He was thinking over his cards, and came to a decision. "Three hundred Ryo." He told everyone, putting the amount of money he specified onto the table.

Ionichi then doubled the amount, and everyone put six hundred Ryo down onto the table.

"Your 'all seeing eyes can't help you this time." Choza said confidently, getting glares from both of the dojutsu users in the room.

"I don't need my Byakugan to see that you're bluffing." Hiashi said with his usual calm and almost monotonous tone of voice.

Choza calmed down and took another glance at his cards. He had an alright hand, but he'd have to figure out a way to get the others to fold before he was forced to.

The game went on, and at the fourth round, only Hiruzen, Shikaku, Fukagu, and Naruto were remaining. Tsume decided to quit the round the first three cards were put down, as she wanted to just watch Naruto, but still make a contribution to the pot. Choza had to fall back on the same round that Tsume did, and Inoichi, and Shibi, folded on the previous round, due to bad cards being put on the table.

"Shikaku." Hirzuen said, getting the man's attention. "If you're as smart as I have believed you to be, then you would be better off folding. The same for you, Naruto."

Shikaku was silent, but Naruto shook his head in denial. "I'm not backing down Jiji! I have this game in the bag!" he said, grinning.

Shikaku was silent for another moment before sighing and sliding his cards forward. "I fold." He stated as Ebisu collected his cards. They had started on a rather high bet, and it wasn't worth going through all of this if he knew that he had small chances of actually winning.

Hiashi, Fugaku, and Hiruzen were all sure that Naruto wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, but were all rather surprised to find out that in the showdown, Naruto had the best hand out of all four of them. Anko collected the money that he had won in that game and headed home.

While surprised, most of the clan heads steeled their resolves by assuring themselves that Naruto's win was just up to chance, a fluke, and that the boy lacked any actual skill. Tsume was the only one really sure that Naruto did have some skill in the game, along with a little luck. Despite what she thought, she was wrong.

Naruto had a lot of luck.

For the rest of the night, Naruto won every game that he participated in. He stayed out of one game by choice so he could count how much money he had gathered from playing Poker.

The final game of the night, however, took an interesting turn. They had each only brought a set amount of money, and had not predicted that they would have lost everything they brought to a six year old child. To make up for it, they had bet their clothes and even knowledge.

Everyone in the room except for Naruto and Ebisu were only in their underwear and headbands, all of them looking at each other with tired and angered expressions. Well, except when people looked at Hiruzen, after all, underneath his robes and pants, he apparently hid a secret, adult diapers. When he had revealed them, he had hid his face in his hands, saying, quite loudly, and obviously in shame, "They are because of my bowels losing control in my old age," before glaring at everyone, needless to say, every time someone looked in his direction, snickering, or even a snort of laughter could be heard. To think, the great third Hokage had bowel control issues, and yet was still one of the greatest ninja in the land, albeit one who would occasionally shit himself from time to time. It was just Naruto and Fugaku now, and the man couldn't be more enraged.

He couldn't believe how this boy had beat him in every game of poker he played that night. Naruto was still betting money, while he had to resort to other things to continue betting.

The Uchiha clan head had an ugly scowl on his normally stoic face. He looked around to the other clan heads to see how they were holding up to the wrath of the Uzumaki boy. Hiashi was just as angered as he was, given that they were the heads of the two most prideful clans in Konoha. The pale eyed man had even pulled some of his hair out in rage. Shikaku had a bored and angry look on his face, and at this point he ceased to care about the game. Inoichi had a hard scowl, and was focusing on every aspect of Naruto to see how he was winning, and what his tells were. Choza continually looked around, trying to think of something else other than this game that had gone oh so wrong. Tsume looked extremely bored, but was rather interested in how Naruto had won. She had tried to bet the least amount possible each and every game, but she still ended up like everyone else, naked and confused. Hiruzen was tired, and hoped that this was all just a bad dream, after all, his greatest secret and shame had been revealed, his diapers, it would no doubt be the talk of Konoha by the next day, 'the Hokage who shits himself', as Naruto had collected his Hokage robes and hat. Shibi was the scariest looking of them all, as without his cloak and glasses, he appeared to be an extremely thin man with absolutely no fat and all muscle, and had almost black eyes that appeared as black orbs surrounded by the whites of his eyes. While he did make several of his bugs go away as to not scare and unnerve Naruto, there still were quite a few bugs crawling around his body, plus the holes the bugs used to enter and exit his body, which was just plain creepy.

"Fugaku. You should probably give up while you still have your underwear." Inoichi suggested, but the suggestion was denied by Fugaku as he furiously shook his head and glared at Naruto.

"I will NOT lose to this boy!" He stated rather loudly.

"But what are you going to bet?" Choza asked, thinking about what Fugaku could possibly use to bet with now that they had lost everything they had on them or brought with them to this games night.

Fukagu was silent, as he didn't really know what he could bet. Then, a mad idea came to his head as he smirked in such a way that it 'almost' scared Naruto. It was very unlike his usual self, and the other clan leaders were starting to worry about the Uchiha head. "Everything or nothing, Naruto." He told the boy, getting his attention. "You bet everything you have earned tonight, and I will bet the knowledge of every single jutsu that the Uchiha family has stolen since its foundation. Including Uchiha techniques. Okay, boy?" It was clear that Fugaku wasn't thinking clearly, but he wasn't listening to anyone other than Naruto.

"You got a deal!" Naruto responded without hesitating.

Fugaku's smirk grew as he was seriously considering using his sharingan to see what naruto had, but that would mean that he would be disqualified for using his dojutsu, thus owing Naruto the knowledge of everything his clan had stolen with their eyes. Fugaku assured himself that Naruto couldn't win again because of all of the times he had won that night already.

Fugaku refused to back down, and while he didn't have the best hand in the world, he was sure that it was leagues better than whatever Naruto had. He had tried everything that he could to make the boy fold, but had had no luck what so ever.

When it was time for the reveal, Fugaku and Naruto showed their cards, and everyone was truly surprised. Two kings, one of clubs and one of hearts, a 10 of clubs, a three of spades, and a seven of diamonds were on the table. Fugaku had a nine of clubs and a seven of hearts, and Naruto had a king of diamonds and a ten of spades.

Naruto had won.

Nobody in the room could believe it. A six year old had beaten Fugaku and made him lose his mind, at a game. Now, the clan leader of the Uchiha clan had been knocked down several pegs, and had to give every jutsu that the Sharingan had stolen since the creation of the clan, including his own clan techniques, to a six year old child. If he refused, he would be called out by the other clan heads and the Hokage, publically too, and people would question the honor and integrity of the Uchiha clan, and if they questioned that, they would question everything else the clan was doing, more so then they were already. However, Fugaku could take some solace in the fact that many would be laughing at Hiruzen behind his back now, after all, it would be hard not to laugh at a Hokage who, while able to control his ninja, was unable to control one of his bodies basic functions, and would be the laughing stock of the Elemental Nations before long, while they would still respect his strength and power, they would also crack and make jokes about him for his failing bowels.

Soon after the game, Kurenai came by the Sarutobi clan compound to pick up Naruto. She had to be the one to do it, because the ruse would have been broken if Anko had come to take Naruto home.

Kurenai walked to the door and knocked on it. She waited patiently for a short moment before the door opened. On the other side was none other than Asuma Sarutobi.

"O-oh. Hello Asuma." Kurenai said politely, stuttering for a moment, not expecting for her long time crush to be suddenly standing before her.

"Hi Kurenai. What do you need? It's a little late, you know." He told her, scratching the beard that he was growing.

"I'm here to pick up Naruto and bring him back to his home. Since Anko's sick, she can't do it, and it's my job as his godmother to make sure he gets home safe." She said with a calm smile, trying to use the 'responsible godparent' card just enough to impress Asuma.

Asuma nodded with slightly wide eyes, suprized at the news that Kurenai was Narutos godmother. "I see. That's really nice of you to take care of the kid when his mom is too sick to do so. He's really an interesting kid from what I saw tonight."

"Speaking of tonight." Kurenai changed topics slightly. "How was poker night between the clan heads."

Asuma was dead silent. He wasn't really sure what to tell her, and instead moved aside and motioned for her to come in. "It's probably best if you just… come in and see…" He told her, trailing off into silence as he guided her to the room where everyone was.

"Why would you say that? He's only six, and nothing bad could ha-" She stopped speaking upon seeing all of the clan heads in the room. Hiashi's hair was messy and frizzled, not to mention missing large clumps here and there, he clearly looked aggravated, and he was almost entirely naked, save for the fact he was wearing, surprisingly, a pair of boxers that had the Hyuga Clan symbol on them. The same could be said for a majority of the clan heads, with the exception of Tsume, Shibi, and Shikamaru.

"What happened here?" She asked in shock and mild horror, looking at Naruto, who wore the Hokage's hat, and Shibi's glasses. He also had a large pile of various clothes around him, and a rather large stack of money in front of him on the table too.

"I won!" Naruto said joyously, looking at his godmother with a confident face.

Tsume nodded, clearly unfazed by the fact the she and most of the other people in the room were almost completely nude. "The kid won every game."

"_Every_ game?" Kurenai echoed but with emphasis on the first word, getting nods from everyone in the room, including Fugaku, who looked like someone had shit on his food before feeding it to him.

Tsume then smiled, remembering Naruto's most recent prize. "Oi, Naruto. Tell Kurenai what Fugaku has to give you because you beat him." Her smile turned into a mad grin/smirk you would see on a madman who just won the dream, as she watched Fugaku regain his composure, trying to no longer look like the madman he was only mere minutes before.

Before Naruto could speak, Fugaku cleared his throat, obviously frustrated and angrey both at himself, and Naruto, getting Kurenai to look at him. "In my enraged state, I bet the entire collection of jutsu that the Sharingan has acquired since the beginning of the clan, as well as access to use any Uchiha jutsu that he can use without the sharingan. Because of the unfortunate case that not all members of the Uchiha clan can awaken the sharingan, we have all of the jutsu we've taken written down. They will be copied, and you will get the original writings of each jutsu, while we will keep the copies." He explained calmly, though obviously holding back his fury.

Kurenai was speechless. It was like Naruto was the embodiment of some god of luck. Since the Sharingan couldn't copy Kekkei genkai, Naruto could use all of the jutsu as long as he practiced them enough, and knew how to properly use elemental chakra.

"I got all of this stuff!" Naruto told Kurenai once more, bringing her attention back to the real world.

Kurenai then looked back at the naked clan heads and looked at Naruto. "Naruto, please give them back their clothes." She asked him in a rather stern tone, telling him that he was to give them back their clothes.

"Kurenai-saaaaan." He whined, getting a stern look from Kurenai. He pouted and nodded. "Fine…"

Shibi raised his hand and looked at Kurenai, his revealed eyes scaring her just the slightest bit. "He won them fairly, and we are ninja. It would be easy to get to our homes quickly without being noticed." He then cracked the smallest of smiles. "The one who cannot escape being seen would be Hokage-sama. Considering that we are already inside his home, and many people have walked in on the game to see how it was going."

Kurenai shook her head with a smile and waved her hands in front of her. "But you all should have your clothes back." She told them, getting Tsume to shake her head.

"It isn't like we don't have several more of the exact same outfit. We're fine Kurenai." She told the other woman with a smile, "Besides, it was hilairious to find out Hiruzen wears a diaper…" she finished with a grin, getting Kurenai to sigh as she knew it would be pointless to argue with all of these clan heads.

"Come on, Naruto. I'll help you take all of this back."

Naruto nodded to Kurenai, carrying as much as he could in his little arms. Kurenai sealed the money into a scroll and held the rest of his winnings in her arms. The room cleared out rather quickly, with the exception of Fugaku.

"Naruto-san." He said calmly, getting Naruto and Kurenai's attention. "I expect to see you at the Uchiha compound soon. I am a man of my word, and while I did make the bet in an unfocused state, we both agreed to the terms, and I lost." He told the boy, getting Naruto to nod with a smile. Fugaku nodded back and disappeared from the room in a blur. It was clear that he was not happy with the terms, but they had both agreed to the bet, and they had done so in front of all of the clan heads, and the Hokage himself, witnessing the agreement, so he was unable go back on his word, at least not without consequences he could not afford to face…

Naruto and Kurenai left shortly after, having nothing else to do at the Sarutobi compound. They had found out that the woman that Naruto saw when he first arrived was the sister of Asuma, and the child in her arms was named Konohamaru, named after the village they lived in.

The two arrived at Naruto's house to see Anko relaxing on the couch watching something on the television.

Anko looked at the two for a moment before having to do a double take. She took note of the glasses, and the Hokage robe and hat that Naruto had on.

Anko smiled and laughed, leaving her spot on the couch to pick up her child and toss him into the air. "That's my boy! Made them run out of money so they had to bet other things!" He laughed along with her, and hugged Anko, getting her to hug back.

Kurenai smiled at Anko hugging Naruto as she set the scroll with all of the money down on the table in front of the couch.

"He's won allegiance from all of the clans, and is being given the entire library of jutsu stolen by the Sharingan. Powerful jutsu, ancient jutsu, and…OOOOH!" Kurenai yelled in excitement, and sudden realization. "Even deadly genjutsu! Naruto, pleaseeeeeeee let me see those genjutsu when you get them!" She begged, even going so far as to use the dreaded 'koinu no me jutsu', she knew it was low to use THAT, on her GODSON, but, hey, she was the 'Genjutsu Mistress of Konoha', she had a reputation to uphold, plus a love of genjutsu, and she would be DAMNED, if she didn't want a look at the sheer number of genjutsu that the Uchiha clan had acquired over the years, if not centuries, and now they were in her godson's control, or, at least, they soon would be… however, she was also wanting to see what kind of dangerous genjutsu the Sharingan stole in all of its years of use, learning them was a bonus sure, but just seeing them would be good too.

"Sure! You can use them!" Naruto said happily, secretly fearing the koinu no me jutsu his godmother had just used, besides, she was family to him, and he knew that he was going to share all of the jutsu he was going to get with his family.

Little did he know, his growing collection of jutsu wouldn't stop at the Uchiha's collection, and would span across the libraries of two other clans, eventually totaling at three whole clans libraries of jutsu, into one family library of jutsu.

**Happy holidays everyone from both myself and Ogremen! I hope everyone is having a good time, and that everyone enjoyed this doozy of a chapter. It's only been only about two weeks since the last chapter was posted and this one has ten thousand words! I'm not sure about you guys, but I'm feeling good for making a chapter as large as this one. Things will start to move in the next few chapters, and I will be introducing three characters somewhat soon. They will be original characters, but me and Ogremen have put a lot of care into them, hoping to not make them seemed too forced (as them being original characters, as well as their relations, will make them seem pretty forced already). Well anyway, I think that I'll be taking a break from the writing until after new years, but that probably won't happen since I'm too invested in this story to stop.**

**Until next time!**


	10. The Party

**Hello everyone, it's me and Ogremen again. This chapter is a doozy if I do say so myself, and we really have been caught up in doing this one. It's a pretty important chapter, with a lot of things going on, and we hope that it all flows well. I'd also like to say that from here on, we're going to really be taking this story away from what canon has going on. Of course, we've been setting the foundation of change for the past few chapters, but this one is a big mark. As such, I'd like to dub all chapters before this one **_**"The Introduction Arc."**_** Not the prettiest thing, but it gets the job done. This next ark for… quite a while, actually, is **_**"The Uzumaki Clan Arc**_**." If you haven't gotten it by now, then you'll see why shortly.**

**Without further ado, let's get to the chapter!**

Another week had passed and Naruto had spent most of his time training with this friends and family. While his chakra was for too potent and large to use genjutsu with, Kurenai had taught him a thing or two that were helpful in many occasions, and he seemed to have gotten them down rather fast. Since they were just starting on jutsu, Anko had also taught him the kage bunshin, with the permission of the Hokage, of course. The normal clone was much too simple for his boundless levels of chakra, every time he tried they came out sick looking, most likely from chakra poisoning, or a too large chakra dosage, and they hadn't gotten far enough into jutsu and chakra to start him on elemental training. Simple things that any kid with his limitless chakra could pull off were what they were working on, though, they did utilize the kage bunshin to its full effect with him though, using it to improve his chakra control quickly.

Currently, the mother-son duo was standing at the gates of the Uchiha clan compound. The two guards has asked why they were there, and Naruto responded by telling them that they were at the compound because they had to pick up the rest of his winnings from the poker game. While the guards weren't entirely sure what he was going on about, something about being naked and betting jutsu, it had something to do with the clan head, Fugaku, because it involved the weekly poker game. One of the guards left the gate to go tell Fugaku about their presence and intentions, and the other stood there, still watching over the compound.

Sasuke and Itachi were in the back of the compound sparring together with the standard Uchiha taijutsu style. Sasuke had a long way to go, Itachi noted, but when he did get to the top of his game, there wouldn't be much in the way of stopping him, or little that could challenge him.

Suddenly, Itachi caught one of Sasuke's legs and twisted it away from him. He then walked back into the compound without a word, not even responding to his little brother's questions about what was up for suddenly leaving.

Itachi knew his father was going to have his ass kicked, and he was more than sure that his father had the same sense of dread that he had just felt as well.

The guard entered the room in which Fugaku and Mikoto were sitting at, and bowed to the clan leader.

"Fugaku-sama. Naruto Uzumaki and Anko Mitarashi are at the gates of the compound with the intent to 'collect the rest of their winnings', as Uzumaki-san said."

Before the clan head could speak, Mikoto stood up and began to walk to the door. "I will go see that our guests are escorted to you, Fugaku-kun. And hopefully find out what the rest of these 'winnings' are…" She muttered the last part just as she left, and the guardsman soon followed, leaving Fugaku with a sense of dread.

Back outside, Naruto was looking around at the clan compound with awe. All of the compounds seem to be different, with the Uchiha compound having a traditional, yet intimidating feel to it. The entire area said that they were the kind of people that were not to be messed with.

Anko was looking around as well, but for different reasons. She hoped that Fugaku wasn't planning some sort of a coup or kidnapping on them so that he could keep his stolen jutsu. Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case as she noticed Mikoto and the guard from before walking to the gate.

"Anko-san. It's good to see you again, and the same to you, Naruto." Mikoto said kindly, smiling at the both of them and bowing shortly. While it was more than uncommon for an Uchiha to bow to someone other than Fugaku or the Hokage, Mikoto was one of the few who respected the people around her, instead of looking down at them, like a superior looking down on bugs. She also had a fair amount of respect for Anko because she was taking care of the son of her best friend. Naruto's clan was also from an equally as powerful clan, even if he didn't know it yet.

"Anko-san?" Anko repeated, shaking her head with a somewhat nervous laugh. "Just Anko is fine, please. I'm the one who should be saying that to you, you're the one married to a clan head after all."

Mikoto then nodded. "Then I would like for you to just call me Mikoto." She said with a smile before looking at Naruto. "I heard that you were at the last poker game, Naruto. How was it?"

Naruto smiled at the older woman. "It was great! I won all of the games, and Fugaku-san bet all of the stolen jutsu that the sharingan has! He told me that he's gonna copy them all down and give me the original copies!"

Upon hearing this, Mikoto simply twitched an eyebrow in irritation. Now it all made sense as to why Fugaku had Uchiha clan members make duplicate scrolls of every jutsu in the Uchiha library.

"I see." She said quietly, obviously holding back the anger that she was going to unleash upon her husband for doing something as stupid as that. "I'll be right back to bring the two of you inside." She told them before leaving the gate, heading back into the compound to have a little chat with her husband.

His screams of pain and agony could he heard all throughout the village, making many wonder who was torturing little girls, judging by the screams, what other age group could it be…

Several minutes later, Naruto and Anko were escorted into the Uchiha compound, into a room where both Mikoto and Fugaku were sitting at. It was obvious that Fugaku had just been through the wringer, as his hair was messy, he had several bruises all over him, and his clothes were in horrible condition. Despite this, he remained as calm and stoic as ever. In front of him lay a scroll. The scroll itself was black with red edges, and the Uchiha symbol stood out on the black cover.

Fugaku looked at Naruto from his current spot just as she boy entered the room. He waited until everyone was situated properly before speaking.

"Here are the jutsu, as promised. All of them are sealed within the scroll, and have been divided into sections for easier accessibility. Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, kinjutsu, and even taijutsu. There are also the training methods, divided into new and old, and also as well as the elemental training styles."

The taijutsu part surprised Naruto just the slightest bit, he remembered Fugaku talking about giving him jutsu, but nothing about taijutsu. "Taijutsu?" Naruto asked, tiling his head in the adorable way that only a six year old could.

Fugaku nodded. "Yes, Taijutsu. Hopefully, with this addition, you will look at the Uchiha clan more favorably, and we will do the same with you and yours."

Anko raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha head, while Naruto looked at him with even more confusion. "My clan?" The little boy asked.

Fugaku nodded with a calm look. "Yes, your clan. Like with the Yondaime, you will be given clan status upon becoming Hokage. That will be the only possibility with you learning and mastering all of the jutsu within the scroll." A ghost of a smile could be seen on Fugaku's face.

Naruto then smiled and jumped into the air, happy that someone believed that he could make become the next Hokage.

Anko sighed lightly. Fugaku was walking on thin ice there by talking about his clan and the Yondaime, but she assured herself that Fugaku wouldn't say things like that without reason, and even the clan head had to know that it was too early to talk about Naruto's heritage.

Suddenly, the door behind Naruto and Anko opened, and a young man who looked like an older version of Sasuke with more visible laugh lines took a step in.

"Father, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay." The man stated, looking at his obviously beaten father.

Fugaku nodded. "I am fine, Itachi." He then motioned to Naruto and Anko. "This is Naruto Uzumaki and Anko Mitarashi."

Itachi nodded back and bowed to the two guests. "Welcome to the Uchiha compound, my name is Itachi. I believe that you're here to collect the jutsu?"

Naruto nodded with a smile. "Yeah! How'd you know?" He tilted his head once more, getting Itachi to smile.

"Word travels fast, especially when Members of the Sarutobi clan are also in the ANBU." He explained himself, taking note of the light scowl his father placed on him. "If you would like, Naruto-kun, I can help teach you all of those jutsu. I have been one of the largest contributors to the Sharingan library."

Naruto jumped once more. "You can teach me cool jutsu!?" He asked, getting a nod from Itachi. Naruto then turned to his mother, who nodded back with a similar smile. Naruto wanted to explode, but if he did, then he wouldn't be able to learn the jutsu.

A knock could be heard from the door, and looking into the room was Sasuke, who was unsure what all of the commotion was about. "Naruto?" He asked just as he saw the blonde boy.

"Hey Sasuke!" Naruto said in response, smiling as he picked up the scroll and showed it to his friend. "Fugaku-san just gave me all of these cool jutsu! I don't know what's in here, but I bet they're cool!"

Sasuke had a look of surprise on his face. It wasn't like his father, or really anyone in the clan, to just give out jutsu, especially the entire Sharingan library, and he was curious to know what happened for such events to occur. "How'd you get all of them?"

"I won a game last week, and got a bunch of cool stuff! You should come to my house some time and see all of it!" Naruto told Sasuke, who looked at his mother before nodded.

"She says it's okay, so okay!"

Mikoto then stood up and walked over to her son. "I hope you don't mind if I come along as well, Anko. I'd like to have a small chat with you once we get to your house." Her request made Anko shrug.

"I don't see why not, come on." She replied, turning around to the door.

The group left the Uchiha compound and headed towards Anko and Naruto's house.

Naruto and Sasuke talked to each other during the walk, and Mikoto and Anko had their own conversation a few feet behind the children.

Once they reached the house, Naruto opened the door to let everyone in side before shutting it behind himself.

"Hey Sasuke, are you going to be a ninja like your brother and dad?" Naruto asked, tilting his head at Sasuke as they both sat down on the couch.

Sasuke nodded in response. "Yeah, Itachi-nee and Tou-san are training me in the clan stuff. Are you gonna be a ninja too?"

Naruto nodded back with a smile, happy that his friend was going to be a ninja as well. "Yeah I am! Anko-kaasan is teaching me cool stuff, and Fugaku-san gave me some of your clan stuff!" He told Sasuke, who gave him a quizzical look. "I think he's just trying to butter me up for when I become Hokage, though." He muttered somewhat as he smiled, assuring himself that it was what Fugaku was doing. Anko was teaching him to read between every line for a deeper or alternate meaning. He was getting the hang of it, but still had a problem of seeing through the words of people he had recently met. He had yet to start taking notice of a stranger's natural talking habits.

"You're going to be Hokage? They're the best ninja in their village, so you have a lot of training to do if you want to be the best." Sasuke told Naruto in a knowing tone. Becoming Hokage sounded like a cool deal to the little Uchiha, but he just wanted to do what he could to make his family and brother proud, and becoming the best of the best in his village sounded just a little farfetched to him.

"I know that! I'm going to be the best kage in the entire elemental nations and make everyone respect me!" Naruto said with a fire in his eyes. "I'll even fight you to prove it!"

Sasuke was mildly confused. "Fight me?" He asked.

Naruto nodded. "You're the one doubting if I can be the hokage, so I'll prove it to you in a fight!"

Sasuke was silent for a moment, thinking over the situation. He had never fought someone that wasn't a part of the clan yet, and fighting someone his own age might do him some good. "Sure." Sasuke said. "But we should let our parents know so we don't walk over to them with a bunch of random bruises and no proper explanation."

Naruto nodded back and hopped off of the couch. The two headed to the kitchen where Mikoto and Anko were talking about how their sons were doing, and turned when the two boys in question entered the room.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Anko asked, looking at the two kids.

"Me and Sasuke are going to spar out back." Naruto told the two of them, Sasuke nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, he wants to prove to me that he can be Hokage in the future." While Sasuke didn't really understand his friend's logic, he was going along with it anyway to see how far he himself had gotten.

Mikoto and Anko both nodded. "Alright, but don't overdo it you two." Mikoto said in her motherly voice, getting them to nod in response before heading out.

Out behind Naruto and Anko's house, Sasuke and Naruto stood several feet away from each other, looking into each other's eyes.

"Just Taijutsu, okay Sasuke?" Naruto said, getting the Uchiha to nod.

"Okay." The boy said in response, readying himself in the starting pose of the Uchiha taijutsu style.

Back inside, Anko and Mikoto were having a calm conversation, with the topic being none other than Naruto. Like the last time they had spoken, it was mainly about how Anko was planning on telling her son who his biological parents were.

"So you have it all worked out?" Mikoto asked, thinking back on Anko's plan.

Anko nodded with a calm look on her face. "Yeah. Hopefully it goes well. Not all kids react well to being told their father sealed a demon into them." She shrugged lightly, hoping that things would go the way she planned once they had gotten that far.

A faint knocking could be heard from the front door, and both Anko and Mikoto turned to look over at the door in the living room.

"It's open!" Anko called to whoever was outside. Seconds later, the door was opened to reveal both Kurenai and Ibiki.

"Is Naruto alright?" Kurenai went straight to the point, looking around the house as she made her way to the kitchen.

Anko looked at her quizzically. "Yeah, he's fine." She told her surrogate sister. "He's just out back sparring with Sasuke. Why, is something going on?"

Kurenai was quiet for a moment, taking in small breaths of air, "Nothing, but I just felt like something was going to happen, so I came as quickly as I could."

Anko nodded with a smile. "Ah, I see." She turned to Ibiki, who stood in between the kitchen and the living room. "Why're you here?"

Ibiki sighed, "Day off..." He said simply, getting Anko to nod again. It wasn't an uncommon thing for Ibiki to get so carried away with interrogating that he would walk into the other interrogation rooms and take control of the operation, even if it wasn't his prisoner to get answers from. This happened quite regularly, and often cleans out the Interrogation and Torture for days at a time, if not weeks sometimes.

"So you're just going to be spending you're time here when you have days off now? No whips and chains like usual?" Anko said with a smirk, getting both Mikoto and Kurenai to look at Ibiki with wide eyes and curious looks.

Ibiki said nothing, but the air around him told Anko all she wanted to hear, as did the blush that was only partially shown on his face.

There was a minute long silence and nobody spoke a word, Ibiki lightly glared at Anko, who grinned back with confidence that was unmatched in the room, after all, she had loads of juicy, dirty, little secrets on him, and the two other women in the room were starting to blush as ideas filled their head about the master interrogator.

"Let's go see how the boys are doing!" Mikoto said quickly, not wanting to think any more about what Anko had suggested, or maybe hinted at having knowledge of. Kurenai was quick to agree, and Ibiki and Anko agreed not long after, with Anko grinning at the glaring Ibiki. The whole group headed outside to watch the spar, where they found Hana sitting with her pups in her lap.

Anko looked at Hana with curiosity. "Whatcha' doing here?" She asked.

Hana looked at Anko and petted two of her pups. "We were out for a walk, and they wanted to see Naruto. They really like him, you know." She replied with a smile. It was rather difficult for Hana to keep the triplets from wandering off to go and find Naruto, so she eventually relented and led them to Anko's house. While she also wanted to see what Naruto was up to, her dogs wanting to see him was a better reason to go.

Anko looked up to see Naruto and Sasuke still in their starting positions. "They haven't started yet?"

Hana shook her head. "Nope, they've been like this for five minutes, each waiting for the other to make a move. Either that, or they're stuck and don't know what to do."

The entire group looked at Naruto and Sasuke, who stood almost motionless in front of one another.

"Come on Sasuke, make a move." Naruto said cockily, trying to take notes on every little detail about the Uchiha style. He would be able to fight against Sasuke better once he looked at the scrolls Fugaku gave him.

Sasuke smiled, but it was a small but friendly smile, "How about you make the first move, Naruto," he said, while he was itching for the fight to begin, Itachi had told him that, the first advantage, always came to the second person to strike in a fight, as they would have the first counter strike opportunity.

If it hadn't been for the taijutsu-only rule, Naruto would have brought out his clones to surprise Sasuke. Suddenly, Naruto dropped out of his stance and crouched low to the ground before lunging at Sasuke and throwing a fist in the direction of the Uchiha. While he didn't have the same thin and lithe frame that both Anko and Orochimaru had, he could still use the form he was taught well.

Sasuke was unfamiliar with the style Naruto had suddenly switched to before lunging at him, as a result, he reacted like most would in this situation of having someone flying at you with intent to beat you...he jumped out of the way ungracefully, before rolling and coming into an awkward position due to his feet slipping out from under him and thus causing him to do an unintentional split, one that he immediately felt the effect of before letting out a quiet, but clearly audible squeak of pain.

Naruto cracked a smile at the sound of Sasuke squeaking. His style was meant for catching your opponents off guard, and that was exactly what he did. The blond haired boy lunged over to where Sasuke was and launched a leg out to get him to fall down.

Sasuke suddenly felt his feet knocked out from under him from behind, as he fell on his ass, letting out a loud 'OOF' as he landed. While he was glad the split had ended, and was unaware he would be feeling the strain from it later and a day after, he slowly got up and turned around, before getting back into the position he had been taught. Thinking about possible moves for a moment, he saw what, to him, he perceived as a weak spot in Naruto's style, and struck, lancing an arm out at Naruto's unprotected side.

Back with the group, Anko simply smile as she watched Sasuke go for an open spot in Naruto's style.

Naruto was taught to have the smallest amount of open or weak points as possible. He was also taught that the snake style was deceiving, and had very little weak points, if any. Naruto moved his arm to deflect Sasuke's strike, but with his current speed, he was only able to swat away the attacking hand just before it made contact with Naruto's body. The boy then attempted to distance himself away from Sasuke by back flipping away, but ended up falling on his stomach and face instead of his feet. With an audible groan, the boy then rolled onto his back and spun himself to get back to his feet, tilting just the slightest bit as he stopped.

Sasuke wanted to grin in amusement when Naruto did the faceplant, but instead chose to smile before assessing how his attack had failed, obviously, the style Naruto used either had obvious weak spots that were actually traps, or Naruto was very fast, or both, now that he thought about it really. He then began to think, before he remembered a move his brother had taught him, one that, while cheap, could work on inexperienced fighters. Sasuke suddenly widened his eyes while looking over Naruto's shoulder at the forest behind said boy, before pointing, "Hey, what's that?" he said in shock.

"Huh?" Naruto said in curiosity, turning around to see what was in the forest that was so important that made Sasuke stop the fight and point it out. "Where?" He said as he looked around.

Everybody sighed at the tactic at hand, but Anko added to this by placing her hand over her face to keep her from seeing such a stupid and obvious move being executed flawlessly.

Grinning now, Sasuke suddenly charged at Naruto, and managed to catch him by surprise with a punch to the side of the jaw, which, due to Naruto being unprepared for the attack, sent him flying backwards a few feet, before skidding to a stop, with blood leaking out of his mouth, and missing a tooth since it had been both a hard punch, fueled by speed and momentum, and it being unexpected, not to mention Sasuke had unintentionally channeled a small portion of his chakra into the punch, even if he didn't realise it.

While Hana said nothing about the unexpected hit, she did become just the slightest bit tense. If Naruto was going to fall for tactics as simple and easy to see through as that, then the fight would be over soon.

"Hey..." Naruto dragged on as he slowly rose to his feet, giving his opponent a rather neutral expression. It was odd for a boy who constantly flickered between emotions, but the expression told Sasuke that he was going to be a bit more serious now. He made a mental note to not fall for that again, and charged at Sasuke again, but sidestepped just inches away from Sasuke. He went for a low sweep, hoping to catch him off guard with his speed and unexpected change of plans.

Sasuke noticed the missing tooth and couldn't help letting out a snort of amusement, after all, it was hard to resist what would follow, "Nice grin," Sasuke said, smiling at Naruto, before seeing the sweep and just barely jumping in time to avoid it, but not without resulting in another split as he landed causing another squeak of pain, he would REALLY need to learn to land better...

The two continued to fight for the next thirty minutes, both of them getting a better understanding of how the other fought. The fight began to pick up speed and they were starting to get tired.

Watching from the sidelines, Anko and Mikoto knew that they had to make sure that their children put some more effort into their taijutsu training, but were still good for being at such a young age. Anko would be sure to teach Naruto to not fall for stupid tricks like that one from earlier again, and Mikoto would tell Itachi and Fugaku to work on Sasuke's recoveries, after all, he couldn't be allowed to keep injuring his groin by not landing properly.

Naruto threw another kick at Sasuke, hoping to land another hit on his friend. Suddenly, a thought entered his head and he jumped back, looking around the area rapidly. It seemed like he had heard or felt the presence of something nearby, by the way he was acting, and even raised a hand to Sasuke to tell him to pause for a moment while he investigated. "Hold on." Naruto said, continuing to look around. "I think I heard something." He continued looking around and walking around the area, confusing everyone around him. Apparently he was hearing something that they weren't, and nobody could understand why. Suddenly, Naruto became wide-eyed and looked at Sasuke with alarm and horror. "I hear a bunch of crazy fan girls! Run!" He almost shouted, walking up to Sasuke and shaking him by the shoulders. "Why are you still here!?" He asked, not letting go of Sasuke, suddenly, Naruto clashed his skull with Sasuke's and kneed him in the stomach before slowly setting him down. "I can play dirty too!" He said victoriously.

Sasuke groaned as he passed out from both the head-butt and then the knee to his stomach, all he could do as he fell was think, 'I guess I deserved that in the end really...'

While shocked and alarmed at the dirty play, Anko couldn't help but to applaud Naruto for such a believable act, before looking at him in pride for pulling off that performance. Mikoto was worried for her son, who had just been knocked unconscious, and ran over to pick him up. She also had to commend Naruto for his acting, even if it was to gain the upper hand on her son. Ibiki and Kurenai had similar reactions to Naruto winning.

While Hana was alarmed about the sudden dirty play, she was more concerned about the bruises and marks that covered Naruto's body, as well as his missing tooth. She quickly stood up and went to inspect him, and the triplets circled Naruto to make sure he was alright as well.

Naruto wasn't sure what to say about Hana's actions, but it felt nice to have someone care about him enough to look him over, even if he did heal almost instantly.

After looking over Naruto, Hana let go of the boy and smiled at him, giving him a nod of approval. "That was pretty good Naruto." She said to him, the pups barking and yipping in agreement.

"Thanks Hana!" Naruto said back, happy that he was the one to come out on top in the spar. "But I should say sorry for hitting him like that when he wakes up." He looked in the direction of Mikoto and Sasuke, the former tending to the latter and giving Naruto a nod that told him that he was okay.

Soon after, Mikoto took Sasuke back to the clan compound to rest, and all of the remaining people hung out at Anko and Naruto's house for a little while longer before leaving and heading back to their respective homes.

Several days later, Naruto was behind his house with Anko to work on his taijutsu forms, they were also using his shadow clones to speed up the process of correcting his use of it. While he did do alright for his spar against Sasuke, there were several problems with his form that Anko could have taken advantage of if she were the one fighting him instead of Sasuke.

The original Naruto was standing in front of Anko, low to the ground in his fighting stance. They had been practicing for a good hour on different things having to do with the stance, and Anko made slight alterations to it to better fit Naruto's body.

Naruto sprang over to Anko to punch her, but the older woman caught his fist and spun him away. Naruto managed to catch himself before he hit the ground by planting his fists into the ground and flipping back to his feet.

"Good, good. Didn't fall on your face this time." Anko nodded and ran at him with a kunai in each of her hands. She had to up the ante just a bit to make sure Naruto knew that she was going to be hitting with open fists. He had to see that there was danger even when training or sparring.

Naruto smiled back as he dropped out of his snake stance. "Of course I didn't! Naruto Uzumaki doesn't make mistakes twice!" He said with confidence, his smile shifting into a smirk.

Anko smirked back and disappeared, only to reappear behind Naruto. She held both kunai against his neck as she bent down to whisper into his ear, giving the boy chills. "That's right… he makes too many of them to count."

Naruto was frozen in fear by his mother's tactics, and only watched as she reappeared in front of him, smiling as if nothing had happened. "Come on, Gaki, Let's take a break."

Naruto sighed deeply and fell onto the ground. He couldn't stand it when Anko did crazy and scary things like that, but at least she didn't taste his blood like last time.

Just before Naruto could get up though, an ANBU agent appeared before Naruto and Anko.

"Hokage-sama has requested to see the both of you at the tower. I'll be your escort." The ANBU said, bowing to the two.

"Dragon?" Anko asked curiously as she looked at the ANBU's mask. "Is it just chance that Hokage-sama always seems to send you to get us?" There was a light smile on her face, but it didn't seem to be recognized as the ANBU continued to speak in a somewhat monotonous tone.

"Purely chance, as far as I can tell." Dragon replied with a calm tone. His thin and slightly muscled arms moved to get Anko and Naruto to move. "He would like to see you as soon as possible."

Anko nodded looked at Naruto, who finally rose to his feet and looked at Dragon with curiosity. He had always recognized the mask that Dragon wore, but he had never taken in the other details about him, as there weren't many to differentiate himself from other ANBU.

Like the Typical ANBU, Dragon wore the typical ANBU Uniform, but it was a little large for his body type, and had a sword on his back. To stand out among ANBU, he wore a balaclava that kept his hair concealed. He had a thin build that was somewhat similar to Anko's, but only his arms could be seen, so many were unsure if the rest of him was thin and wiry.

"Come on, Naruto. Let's go see what the Hokage needs from us." Anko said walking around the house with Dragon at such a slow pace that Naruto could catch up easily. Once he was with the group, the three took off in a sprint.

It wasn't long until the three reached the Hokage tower, and once they did, they slowed down considerably as to not run into anything. They quickly passed through the door and over to the door that lead to Hiruzen's office, not having any need to stop at the secretary's desk as they had their ANBU escort with them.

Once they reached the door, the group of three stopped and waited for a signal to come in, which was voiced by Hiruzen himself after hearing knocking upon his door. Dragon opened the door and disappeared with a bow, as he was no longer needed by the Hokage at the moment.

"Thank you, Dragon." Hiruzen said with a nod just as the ANBU left. He then directed his attention to the two people in his office and glanced at the open door behind them. "Anko, could you close the door for me?" The old man requested, getting a nod out of the Snake Mistress. A second later, the door was closed and he was finally ready to get down to business.

"Naruto-kun, do you know why I've called you here?" Hiruzen asked, smiling softly at the boy as he sat in his chair.

Naruto turned his head sideways in curiosity in the adorable way that children do, as he took on a thinking look, one that most women would fall for cause of its adorableness, "Hmm," he said, as he thought about it, before shrugging his shoulders and saying, "Nope, sorry, no idea Jiji," Naruto then looked to his mother, seeing if maybe she knew.

With a nod, Hiruzen laughed softly. While he could easily see Naruto enveloped in curiosity, he could also see the wary gaze that Anko sent his way. He was sure that she had ideas of why he had requested their presence, but shook his head slightly at her, telling her that there was nothing to worry about at the moment. "Well, Naruto-kun. I managed to find a nice, large house, near the compounds, and I have decided to give it to you and your mother. I put a seal on the gate so nobody could get in; it just needs your blood to unlock the gate. Okay?"

Naruto looked at the Third Hokage and tilted his head again in curiosity, "Why would we need a bigger house?" he asked in both curiosity, and innocence.

"Well..." Anko dragged out, stepping into the conversation as she looked at her son. "We only have one bedroom, and as warm as you are at night, you do need your own bed and room."

Hiruzen nodded. While it wasn't the explanation he had expected from her, he understood her reasoning and smiled at Naruto once more. "Not to mention, there might be some things in there left by the previous owners that you might be able to use."

Again, Naruto tilted his head to the side in curiosity, "But, why do I need my own room?" He asked the Third Hokage and his mother.

Anko took this time to simply stare blankly as she searched her brain for an answer. She had forgotten that Naruto never had a mother or parent figure before her, so it was somewhat obvious that he wouldn't know why he needed his own room. "Well..." She dragged out once more, the awkwardness being evident in her voice. "It's uh, hmm..." She didn't know what to tell her son, and looked to Hiruzen for a way out of this.

Hiruzen caught the look Anko gave him, and began to think as well. Suddenly, an idea formed in his head and he smiled at his surrogate grandson. "Because, Naruto. Lots of ninja sleep alone or by themselves because... What if they had an enemy? If they shared a bed with someone, surely the attacker would go for whoever is with them and use them as leverage against the person they were after. Not to mention, with your new house, you do have some rooms to fill, and since it's just the two of you, it would be best to take different rooms."

Again, Naruto tilted his head to the other side this time, as he thought about it, "So, are you saying its bad to sleep with another person?" he asked curiously, oblivious to the things that could be inferred by what he was speaking about, given that he was young and innocent, and had no knowledge of such things. He just said what he said as a son talking about sharing his mother's bed for comfort, and protection from bad dreams, something that had caused him to share his mother's bed, the reason being all his nightmares, so far, had more or less been when he was unconscious, not when he was asleep, she was keeping his nightmares back, he just didn't realise that was the reason he had not had nightmares since she adopted him.

Hiruzen was silent for another moment, as was Anko. The two of them had to think through how to answer his question without it biting them in the ass sometime in the future. "Not necessarily, no." Hiruzen replied unsure. "It isn't uncommon for people to share a bed when they're in a relationship of sorts, but it's best if you have your own room separate from your mothers."

Naruto, yet again, tilted his head to the side in curiosity, probably making them wonder why he kept doing so, "Relationships? What kind of relationships Jiji?" Naruto had heard this word before, but had never understood what it had meant as no one had explained what that, along with many other everyday terms, he had heard meant, and so he was often wondering about what he heard some people talking about when they thought he wasn't listening.

If Hiruzen had been drinking something at that moment, he surely would have spit it out and choked on whatever liquid made its way down the wrong pipe. He cursed the boys curiosity, but knew that it would have caused trouble if he didn't say something. He really didn't want to answer the question, as Anko gave him a cold, yet motherly glare that just dared him to answer that question. "Well..." He started off shakily, trying to think of words that would articulate the point he was trying to make, but still, be simple and innocent enough to not damage Naruto's young mind. "Usually when two people are close to each other, they decide to share a bed. Like when they are married or really old. Nothing for you to concern yourself with." He had started off rather well, but began to rush out his words as he reached the end of his sentence, before deciding to change the topic from a dangerous one, back to the one that mattered at the moment. "Your house is locked down by seals, and I believe the physical keys to it are inside. Good day."

Naruto looked at the Third Hokage again, obviously still full of questions, but, looking at his mother, he could see that the meeting was over, and got up and followed his mother from the room.

The mother and son duo then left the Hokage tower to go see their new home. As they left, they were neither able to see or hear the old man that had just dodged the most dangerous bullet of his life. He nearly had a heart attack as Anko reappeared in the office a moment later and requested to know where the compound was. He shakily told her that it was in the forest behind the Inuzuka clan compound, and near the Aburambe compound.

On their way to the compound, Naruto and Anko were walking through the market to pick up anything they might want or need for their new home. They would have to start moving things out of Anko's house and into the new one as soon as possible. It would be much easier, though, as both she and Naruto could use shadow clones, and storage seals.

While walking through the market, the two came across Kurenai, who was looking around in the Higurashi weapons store. Anko decided to take Naruto into the store and go talk with Kurenai for a bit.

"Hey 'Nai-chan!" Anko called as she walked into the store, Naruto following behind her.

Kurenai looked up as Anko called her pet name for her, "Hi Anko," she said, smiling, before seeing Naruto looking at some of the swords on display, before rushing over, hugging him, and petting his whiskers a bit, causing the usual reaction to happen, before saying, "So, what's my one and only godson and surrogate sister up to today?" she was still hugging Naruto, with one hand over his whiskers still.

Naruto was only slightly surprised to see Kurenai hugging him and petting his whiskers. Like normally, he had purred because of her touch, but only because it was something he was unable to control. It was much like Kurenai to hug him and pet him when they met up, and was a regular thing for her to do.

"Going to check out our new house." Anko replied to Kurenai, using a certain tone of voice to tell her that there was more to that sentence than just what she had said. Naruto, because of his lack of skill, was unable to interpret what Anko said as anything other than the face value of what she said, and simply stayed in Kurenai's arms while looking at all of the cool swords in the shop.

Seeing that Naruto was distracted by the swords, Kurenai used that as a distraction to look back at Anko and ask, "So...Your moving into his family house then?" she said the quietly so that only Anko could hear her, even though she was still hugging Naruto in front of her.

Anko nodded in response and glanced at the weapons around them before landing her gaze back on Kurenai. "Yeah. The old man Hokage decided it was time." She said in an equally quiet voice, making sure to not be heard by Naruto, despite his close proximity. She then went back to her normal tone of voice and looked at the door. "Want to head over with us? There's probably a lot of ground to cover, and three people will make it easier."

Kurenai looked down at Naruto in her arms, and then nodded, "Sure, I want to see my godson's new home too, after all, I will need to know where to go to visit him and my sister, won't I?" she said, as she hugged Naruto to her while standing up, causing him to bring his attention back to her and his mother.

"Sounds like a plan!" Anko said confidently as she began to walk towards the door, motioning for Kurenai and Naruto to follow along as they headed for their new home.

Kurenai nodded hugged Naruto to her still while walking out of the store, giggling as he struggled in her grip to get free. "Now, now Naruto," she said as she set him down on the ground, "We are going to see your new house together, so, while you may be excited, you need to calm down, alright?" she knew he wasn't completely excited about a new house, but she could see some excitement in him, she then followed Anko and Naruto as they headed towards the compounds district of Konoha.

The trio walked into the compound district of Konoha, and all the people around them felt the air around them change. They couldn't explain why it happened, but they knew that something important was going to happen now and in the coming weeks, kind of like the buildup before a massive storm. The normally talkative people in the district became rather quiet, and the ambient noise dropped significantly. They walked into the woods on a path that started next to the Inuzuka clan compound, and just as they reached the back of the Inuzuka compound, a certain triplet using ninja ran into them and joined the party. Hana looked around as they walked along the path with a somewhat confused expression. She had never been down this path before, despite it being right next to her home, she had seen it many times, but her mother had always told her not to go down that path, so, just like everyone else, she was curious to know what was at the end of it.

Once they reached the end of the path, the group of four was met with a large gate with a familiar spiral right on the center. Within the spiral was an intricate seal, with several runes and markings all around.

Naruto turned to look at his mother, a questioning look on his face as he waited for her to confirm or deny if he should touch it or not.

"It's a blood seal, Naruto." Anko said, glancing at her son as she pulled out a kunai and gave it to him. Hiruzen had told them at the office that it was a blood seal keyed into him, but Anko was sure that Hiruzen only assumed that, as he probably hadn't used Naruto's blood on the seal before.

Naruto tilted his head to the side, not hearing the two squeals of excitement from the beside him as he looked adorable doing so in the eyes of Kureani and Hana, as he looked at his mother and said, "So..." he started, looking at the kunai she had given him, before looking at her, "I need to cut myself, draw blood, and apply it to the gate?" he asked her curiously, his head still tilted to the side.

Anko nodded at her son. "That's right. Apply a little chakra to it as well. That way, if you use a seal like this in battle and get all bloody, all of your stuff doesn't go flying out."

Naruto looked down at the kunai. While it was no secret that he had seen his fair share of blood, nobody knew that there was actually a few times where he had given into the beatings, allowing the villagers to do as they pleased. Sighing once, he raised the kunai to his other hand, and hesitated, before his hand began shaking, obviously going through something inside his mind as he held the kunai against the skin of the palm of his hand. Taking a deep breath, Naruto exhaled before raising his free hand and slitting it open with the kunai in the other hand.. He then dropped the kunai and held his bleeding hand against the seal, allowing it to become stained with his blood. Afterwards, he sent out a pulse of chakra into his hand to use the seal.

The boy took his hand off of the seal and watched as the markings and runes flared to life, the spiral in the center of the seal spinning rapidly as it processed the blood, and undid all of the access seals and wards placed upon the house. Suddenly, a rather large banner unfolded from the top of the gate with a bang, spelling out 'Congratulations on the Baby!' in various colors, with markings that looked like seals and somewhat crude drawings all over it.

Upon seeing the banner, Anko and Kurenai went quiet. Kurenai was aware of Naruto have great ancestry and birth parents, but neither she nor Anko expected something like this. Suddenly, the two were overcome with sadness. If something like that was at the gate of the compound, untouched and unused since the day it was put there, then they would only take guesses about what kind of things were inside, or left inside. Naruto's father, or mother, or some of their friends must have done that hours before she gave birth.

Hana was mildly confused at the banner. She took note of the crude drawings, and how there seemed to be a woman with pale violet eyes and long red hair, a man with short red hair and what appeared to be large shovel head, a man with blonde hair with sparks all around him, and a woman with red hair that was much longer than the first's, all tied up into a large pony tail that wrapped loosely around her. There were others as well, such as a man and a young girl dancing around in possibly noodles, and a dog with a muzzle and an eye patch, but the one with the pony tail seemed to be the most defined out of all of them. She didn't understand who those were pictures of, except for maybe the one with the blonde hair and lightning bolts. There was also the dog, which made Hana look at that specific picture once more. Without the muzzle, it would have looked almost exactly like Kuromaru, the ninken that her mother was partnered with.

"C'mon." Anko said simply as she guided Naruto inside the compound. She was much more tense because of that banner, and if she was going to be honest, she was scared about what she would find inside. All of the things that Naruto might have gotten, but was denied the right to have because of what he contained, and because a bunch of old and civilian pricks thought he should be nothing more than a weapon for them to control and beat around.

Naruto, looked at the banner, and, to be honest, was confused, cause as far as he knew, his mother did not have a baby, and neither did his godmother, after mulling it over, he decided he would ask his mother later about it, before following her and Kurenai into the compound. When they entered, they noticed that the grass had grown to be about four to five feet high in some places around the buildings, and even higher in others, obviously untended to and uncut in a long time, and as they walked past the buildings, it was obvious that what had once been a thriving and happy compound, was now an empty, cold, and dusty shell of its former self, as it stood empty of all the life that once thrived here. Finally, they came to the heart of the compound, where stood a massive building, one that could be called mansion, or even a castle, with towers, terraces; compared to the other houses of the compound, and on its doors stood another seal, but also a note, a note that was faded in colour, but still readable.

Anko was the first one to take notice of the note, and as such, she moved at a slightly faster pace than everyone else so that she could take it and read it, and decide if Naruto should see it or not. Anko read the note quietly to herself and didn't know what to say or how to react.

_To my loving wife,_

_There's been some business I had to take care of at the office personally, but everyone's inside and enjoying the party. They're all excited to see little Naruto, but they know better than to ask too much. Well, maybe not your uncle, but everyone else knows that Naruto stays with you during the party, and won't be passed around to everyone to see and admire._

_Minato._

Anko had no idea what to say. She was on the verge of tears by the end of it, and she felt so bad for Minato and Kushina. They had an entire party planned for Naruto's birth, and Kushina couldn't even be there because of the fox being released.

Anko then folded up the piece of paper neatly and stored in in the pocket of her jacket. She then motioned for Naruto to undo the next seal as she calmed herself down.

Naruto, seeing his mother motioning for him, walked to stand beside her, before repeating the process he had done with the gate, to the door of the compounds main building, as the seal released itself however, there was a suction of air and a hissing sound as new air was sucked into the house for what was obviously the first time in a while. Naruto then hesitated a moment before opening the door and letting the three ladies enter first, like a gentlemen would, just like his godmother had been teaching him.

As the three women walked in and looked around, they would find that the entire main room of the compound was decorated for a party. Everything in the house looked new, and almost nothing in the house showed any age. More banners with crude drawings were hung up around the main room, all of them bearing the same characters from the first banner, but doing different things on each banner. On one, the woman with the shorter red hair was standing next to the man with the blonde hair, their hands together and a heart above them. On another, the red haired man with the shovel head was covered in dirt and was laughing evilly by how the picture portrayed him, and had the symbols of several of the elemental nations surrounding him.

Naruto looked around as he entered, "What's with all the decorations? I thought Jiji said that the people before us left some things behind, but I was not expecting whatever this is..." he said, obviously confused and not sure what a party theme was which was this, and that alone would sadden the three women, by its obvious implications, and make Anko, Kurenai, and Hana all later agree to help rectify. As Naruto looked around though, he finally noticed the pictures on the walls before Anko could, "Hey, that looks like an older me...without any whiskers though..." Naruto said, drawing attention to the pictures on the walls in frames and causing Anko to realize that he was realizing something before she could tell him.

Kurenai looked at Naruto and Anko with concern. She had no idea how he was going to react to the news, especially after seeing all of the party decorations in the main room. She then looked at Hana and her triplets, who were sniffing around the house and taking in the new scents eagerly. "Hana." Kurenai said using her motherly tone. "I think that you should head back to your home, and we'll come and bring you back later, okay?"

While Hana would have normally went against the idea and suggest that she stay and see what happened, the air around the compound, along with the vibes that Anko, Kurenai, and Naruto were giving off told her that it was for the best if she did what she was told…for now. The young Inuzuka girl nodded and whistled, getting her pups to come to her so they could walk out.

Once Hana left, Anko knelt down next to Naruto and put a hand on her son's shoulder and looked at him with concern and care. "Naruto, there's something I need to tell you. Something about this place, and something about you."

Naruto turned to look at his mother, suddenly feeling uncomfortable, like he was expecting an attack, or that something wasn't right. Still, he looked at his mother, waiting for her to speak, not understanding why he suddenly felt some sense of foreboding at what she was about to tell him.

Anko looked around the house and then back to Naruto. "This house, this compound, it's all yours." She told him, pausing for just a short moment before continuing. "And not just because the Hokage gave it to you. This is the house, the _home_, of your clan. The house of your parents..." She paused once more, looking around and taking note of the pictures of Minato, Kushina, and several others like Kakashi and the Ichiraku's altogether. "You know what happened on October tenth, right?"

Naruto thought about it for only a second before replying, "It's the day the Kyuubi was killed by the Fourth Hokage, the greatest Hokage to ever come out of the Leaf Village," still not quite fully grasping at what Anko was trying to tell him, though to others it would be obvious, but Naruto was the exception, as he lacked the education that most kids his age had. However, he knew what was inside of him, and was just telling Anko what she wanted to hear, rather than what he knew.

Anko nodded with a small frown on her face as she looked at her son. "Right... But also wrong as well." She told him. "The fourth didn't kill the Kyubi like everyone says. He sealed it into a little boy called Naruto Uzumaki, his own son."

It was silent for a moment, then another, and another as Naruto slowly processed what his mother had just told him...then, suddenly, it clicked, in Naruto's mind, it clicked, "I'm...the Fourth Hokages...son?" he said, pausing every so often, his words full of disbelief, as if he couldn't except the fact that his father had been one of the most powerful men to ever grace the Elemental Nations, to have been known for killing over 200 enemy ninja in under 10 seconds using the jutsu that made him both famous, and infamous, these were the things that Naruto had been told by the villagers who had beaten him, stabbed him, tried to kill him many times in the past, always being the most vicious on the 10th of October. Then he remembered what else his mother had just told him, "Wait, you say he sealed the Kyuubi in his own son...me?" he said, as his eyes widened, before he began to vibrate, then shake, then began to thrash as his eyes rolled back into his skull before collapsing and convulsing, obviously going through the trauma of having too much emotions of conflicting natures and information that was just too much for his young mind, that had been through more than most middle aged men, could handle, not even feeling the floor as he was caught by his mother, or hear the snake mistress shout for Kurenai to help her.

Kurenai looked around and began to walk in various directions. She had no idea what to do in this situation. Her head moved to look at Anko as she heard the woman shout for her.

"Go and get Inoichi!" Anko called out, holding her son and cradling him in her arms. "He HAS to help my son!" She cried, tears starting to form in her eyes as she cradled Naruto in her arms, hoping he would be alright and able to recover, and that Inoichi would be able to help him when he gets there.

Shakily, Kurenai nodded and took off at a speed that she didn't think she could move at, then again, she was worried about her godson, and so was in a panic. The woman quickly exited the forest and found her way over to the Yamanaka flower shop, which was connected to the Yamanaka compound itself. Quickly, the woman hurried through the door and looked around, moving towards the counter to see a rather tall woman with brown hair, pale skin, and light brown eyes. She was wearing a simple green dress with a pendent just under the collar.

"I need to find Inoichi Yamanaka!" Kurenai said urgently. "It's an emergency!"

The woman took in Kurenai's appearance and atmosphere. By the looks of her, it seemed like the woman had just seen someone snap or have a heart attack, maybe even both. She didn't spend much time thinking, and nodded to Kurenai before walking away from the counter quickly. "I'll go and get him as soon as possible. Please wait while I go get him." She said as she walked out of the store and through a door that led into the Yamanaka compound.

Kurenai waited, but she paced around the store impatiently before seeing the door open with Inoichi himself walking through.

The Master Mind Walker looked at Kurenai with slight confusion. "What's going on?" He asked her, only to see her walk up to him, grab his hand, and pull him out of the flower shop.

"It's Naruto, we have to go now!" Kurenai said quickly as she pulled on him harder, urging him to move faster so they could get to the compound in the quickest time possible.

Naruto opened his eyes slowly to look at the area around him. He could no longer feel any presences other than his own, and he was no longer in the home his birth parents had lived in. He was now in a ruined hallway, with flickering lights, some of them swinging from side to side, while other lights weren't even on, leading to patches of darkness between lights in some areas, cracked walls and ceilings, and large amounts of debris everywhere, clearly, something terrible had happened to this place. He had remembered a few weeks ago how he had woken up in a sewer to find the Kyubi sealed within him. He assumed that this was the same case, and that this was a different part of his mind.

While he was curious about the area around him, he didn't want to move at all. Even in the depths of his mind, he was suffering from the shock of finding out that his own father, the man who he had looked up to as a shining beacon of hope, had given him a curse that supplied pain far worse than any scolding could ever amount to. He was filled to the brim on anger and betrayal towards a person who he had never met, and now never wanted to ever meet, however, there was also great sadness, pain, and torment, but these were not for the man who was his father, but because of his actions, and wondering if the man had even cared about him like a father would about his son.

Despite this, he felt himself getting up because he was pulled towards a faint presence in the area. He dragged his feet across the ground as he made his way through the hallways, weaving through turns as if he knew where he was going.

As he continued to move, he began to feel a familiar, yet foreign presence around him. It wasn't in a particular direction that he felt the presence of someone, but all around him. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of walking, he reached a large room with a familiar cage.

Inside the cage was a woman. She was rather tall and had a strong build, but that only added to her beauty. She had long flowing hair and a crimson red Kimono with orange accents. Her eyes were the same shade of red as her dress, which was a blood red, and had a beast-like black slit in place of her pupils. Her facial features were somewhat well defined for a woman, but they weren't accentuated in any way as she gazed into the distance with a calm and stoic expression. Overall her physical appearance gave her the air that would belong to a queen or ruler. It was obvious that she was a serious woman and not one to joke around…well, not much anyway.

As the woman in the cage took notice of the puffy-eyed Naruto, her facial features softened even more as he approached the gate. She had felt the disturbance in her cage just as Naruto began to unravel, and was sure that something was wrong, as her new and clean surroundings began to crumble and decay at a rapid pace before slowing as Naruto entered the room that her cage was contained in.

"Naruto," The woman said calmly, getting the boy to focus on her words. "Do not hate your father for what he-"

"He SACRIFICED ME!" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs as he interrupted the woman. Tears started to flow freely from his face as he sobbed. "He put a DEMON inside his OWN SON!"

The woman growled at Naruto and attempted to reach out and grab him, even though he was several feet away from the bars of the cage. "He did what he had to do to keep his people safe! If that meant sacrificing one weak little boy for everyone else's safety then so be it!"

Naruto became quiet once again, but continued to sob and cry as he fell to the floor. "How could he do this to me...? I'm his own son!" Naruto said to himself as he continued to blast all of his rage in the direction of his father. "He could have found someone else... He could have..." He then started to mumble incoherent words as he sat on the floor, holding his knees, and rocking back and forth.

Naruto's actions made the Kyubi frown. She was well aware of his fragile and broken state, and all she was doing was driving the point he was focusing on home when she should have been helping rebuild him, not reinforcing his anger. She didn't want for her container to become like the ones Shukaku had been in, mad sociopaths who did nothing but kill.

"Naruto..." She started off again, looking at him once more with a calm and somewhat remorseful expression. "Your father did what was needed of him at the time. I knew of Minato through my previous host, and if there was another way out, any other way that didn't involve sealing me into you, then he would have taken it. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but also the only thing he could do."

Naruto continued to mumble incoherent things about his father as he sat on the ground, rocking back and forth still and it was obvious to the Kyubi that he wasn't going to listen to her. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She looked back at Naruto upon hearing the ground below her start to rumble, and was somewhat surprised to see that a dome of stone was forming around Naruto. She smiled slightly at this. Even if it was a subconscious effort, Naruto had created a way to keep himself from being harmed in his currently vulnerable state, and to also be isolated from any and all people.

Suddenly, the Kyubi could feel another presence within the mindscape. She hadn't felt this presence before, and was enveloped in swirling flames. The flames grew twenty times in size, and eventually died out to reveal the Kyubi in her giant fox form. The giant fox then laid down on top of its legs and continued to stare at the dome that protected Naruto.

Minutes later, a thirty-two year old man with a blonde ponytail walked into the large room housing the Kyubi. While he was frightened of its presence and frightening chakra, he needed to steel himself and stay on track.

5 minutes earlier

Kurenai had just rushed into the Uzumaki compound with Inoichi close behind her. He had always been aware that there was some Uzumaki clan members, or people with heritage in Konoha, but he had never actually seen any proof. There was the Uzumaki clan seat in the council, but he had simply assumed that the seat was there because the Uzumaki clan and the former village Uzushiogakure had always been close to Konoha, not that they actually had enough people for the clan within the village.

Kurenai directed Inoichi to Anko, who was currently holding and rocking a convulsing Naruto in her arms. The look of worry and pain on Anko's face told the mindwalker all he needed to know. Inoichi sat in front of Anko and made multiple hand signs before falling onto the ground.

Back within the mindscape, Inoichi continued to steel his reserve as he looked around. He had taken notice of the small dome of stone, and could faintly feel the broken and shattered presence of Naruto Uzumaki. Inoichi felt horrible for not being able to care for Naruto, but he also felt horrible because he knew that there was only so much he _could_ do for Naruto.

Inoichi looked up at the magnificent fox with a calm look in his eyes. He could tell that the fox's attention was centered on Naruto, by the look in its eyes and how it didn't even bother to look at him.

"I'm partially to blame for his current state, excluding my magnificent presence within the boy, of course." The Kyubi said as it continued to focus on the boy. "I drove the point home and made things worse." The large fox then turned its large head to face Inoichi. "Do what needs to be done to make him better, to make him whole again."

Inoichi nodded and walked out of the room, trying to navigate his way to the Hall of Memories. As he made his way through the corridors, and the patches of darkness, he could hear shouts of anger, cries of pain, he could _feel _the fear, anger, and torment around him as he made his way deeper into the hallways, and closer to the Hall that he sought. Finally, after about five minutes of having left the chamber containing Kyubi, Innochi came across the Hall of Memories, however, there was a problem. What should have been a massive orb of memories, was instead divided into rooms, rooms that had doors with plaques on them, examples of what was on the plaques were, Bad Times, which seems to be the most worn down, as if having seen VERY heavy use over a long period of time, clearing indicating it was the strongest of the rooms, or in other words, most filled room. There was also doors with plaques saying, Happy moments, which seemed to be the newest, but also have seen the least amount of use, there was Sad Times, which had also apparently seen a lot of use, Subconscious, that one was typical as everyone had that section, there was also Forgotten Moments, obviously suppressed or forgotten memories, among other doors with other names. Deciding to go for the one door that mattered most at the moment, Innochi went for the door labeled, Recent. As soon as Innochi entered the door, he was sucked into the room before the door shut behind him and he found himself watching the scenes that played out just earlier that day. He was almost crushed by the anger and sadness, and pain and torment that Naruto felt when he found out who his biological father was, however, he barely managed to stand and exit the memory room and back into the Hall in time to avoid being crushed by the intensity of the emotions tied to those recent memories. He panted several times, his hands and knees on the ground as he caught his breath for a few moments before getting back up, he then decided, he should view the Bad Moment

s room next.

Inoichi knew well that Naruto undoubtedly had the roughest life in Konoha, and that there would be several horrible and painful memories on the other side of the door. He could already feel the emotions coming from the other side as he put his hand on the doorknob. For a Yamanaka, going into someone's memories was a dangerous thing, as they were also affected by the memories. If a weak willed Yamanaka were to go into the mind of someone like Naruto, there was no chance that they would come back out as the same person, or even come back out at all.

As he opened the door, Inoichi was assaulted by the memories of Naruto. In the short time that he experienced the memories, he had already developed a deep hatred for the majority of people in the village, with MOST of them being civilians in the village.

One memory that was from when Naruto was four, was of waking up in a white room, that, while unknown to Naruto, was clearly an operating room to Innochi, he wanted to vomit as he watched the experiments the doctor performed on Naruto, things like, creating new poison antidotes by giving the poisons to Naruto, only for the formulas to be created by Naruto's own body, though, the poisons had also been created by the doctor himself, so, really, the cures were pointlessly cruel and a way to torture the boy as he withered in pain and agony from the poisons as they coursed through his system, or the organs the doctor would cut out, like a kidney, and a lung, and then wait for them to regrow so he could use Naruto as an organ donor farm, before the door was kicked in by Anbu, who promptly arrested the man, and took him away, while a barely conscious Naruto was taken from the room, which just before Naruto passed out, was revealed to be inside a hospital. Inoichi had heard of the many escapes Naruto had had from the hospital over the years, considering this seemed to be the first memory Naruto had of hospitals, it was now obvious why the boy detested them and was always escaping from it.

Inoichi saw several other memories that made him hate the village much more than he had just moments before, and with every handful of terrible memories, he would create a good memory or two. Usually, the good memories would involve the people that were close to him, like Anko, Kurenai, Ibiki, Hana, and Kakashi and Yugao in their ANBU uniforms and masks. He even left a few of himself in there to let Naruto know that he was there if the boy ever needed someone to talk to and sort problems out with, especially ones that dealt with mental problems, or stress.

Inoichi had even seen what Naruto saw during his poison induced high, and unfortunately, he was unable to do anything about that, much as it pained him to leave that one untouched and unchanged. The hallucinations were created from his subconscious thoughts and worries of Naruto himself brought to life by the poisons in his body at the time, and to get rid of them, he would have to remove the worries from the subconscious, which could easily alter and reshape Naruto into someone entirely different.

Inoichi picked now to take a small break and check up on Naruto and the Kyubi, and he was rather surprised to see what was before him. Apparently, with all of the memories he created, and with the help of the fox, he assumed, Naruto's dome dissipated, as well as the bars to the cell. In place of the bars was a simple fence. Inoichi assumed that the fence took the place of the bars because Naruto placed trust in the Kyubi, as the fox had allowed the boy to lay on one of its paws to sleep. However, Inoichi failed to see that the fox now had a collar with the seal on it, rather than the seal being on the fence.

Some unknown time later, Inoichi decided that he had done enough to help heal the boy's mind, and left the mindscape. As he left, he could feel the entire area being better, happier, brighter, more stable, than when Inoichi had come in.

Back in the physical world, Inoichi woke up with a start, quickly sitting back up and looking around him. The first thing he had noticed was that Naruto was no longer thrashing around in his sleep. Anko was smiling at the boy tenderly as she held him in her arms, slowly petting his whiskers with one hand, and stroking the hair on his head with the other. Slowly the snake mistress looked up at Inoichi, and smiled at him with a genuine smile, a very rare occurrence.

"Thank you." She whispered to him, still smiling as she was glad that her son was going to be okay.

Inoichi nodded in response and glanced at Naruto. "He's seen more than any ninja should in their lifetime. I'm just glad that I could improve his condition." He told Anko, who was listening intently. "I also put some memories in his head to make him better. I'll need to see Kakashi, Yugao, Ibiki, and Hana, as well as the two of you, and put the according memories in for the best results in regards to helping Naruto heal from what he has been through in his life, if you don't mind." Seeing her questioning look, Innochi sighed, "If he has memories involving you, and you don't have those same memories, from your perspective of course, he could reference one of them in a conversation or question to you, but because you do not also have the memory, he would get suspicious, or even paranoid, and could fall further then he did today, and possibly be far worse than he would have been, had I not helped him and done my job as a Mind Walker." He said, getting the two to nod in understanding now that they had had it explained to them. "Also," Inoichi added, looking at them, "It would be best that, one of the two of you stayed with him till he woke up, preferably Anko," when they looked at him with curiosity, he explained, "I saw the memory he had of his time from the Poison High…" as he mentioned this, Kurenai took on a neutral look while shooting a glance at Anko, who in turn, had the decency to look down while looking sad, obviously still hurt by the memory of what she had done to her son, "Anyway," Inoichi continued, "Do not worry, I won't say anything to anyone, that's part of the doctor patient confidentiality part of my job," he said, smiling, "But, what he saw during that poison high, it's going to give him nightmares once all these changes to his routine life settle down, I have mitigated the amount he should end up having, but still, I couldn't erase all the damage of his life," he said, frowning sadly, "My point is, during his recovery from the poison high, he could not be left alone," he looked at them now with a serious look, "His current state, is much more serious then back then, if you leave him alone, even for a second, he could miss your presence, and start shaking, it would be best if you," he looked at Kurenai now, "Or Anko," he turned to look at her, "Stayed with him till he woke up, he is going to need comforting words, hugs, reaffirmation that you both love him as family and your relations to him will need to be reinforced, so that he knows you really do care about him, his greatest fear," here Inoichi had to pause and sigh heavily, "His greatest fear, is that you, Anko, and the others, will abandon him, turn him away, hate him or fear him, that is his greatest fear, and you will have to help him deal with that, but never out right state it, as that is never something to do with a person when trying to help them overcome their fears,"

Anko looked down at the sleeping child in her arms and nodded to Inoichi. While she and the others would probably be able to easily find out which memories were placed in their heads, it was still important that they had them in there for future reference. "If it helps him, then do what you need to do." She looked down at Naruto again, smiling as she pet his whiskers. She then looked back at the Mind Walker and nodded thankfully. "Thank you Inoichi, really."

Inoichi nodded, "Your welcome, Anko-san," he said, smiling back, not truly aware that, for her to show him a genuine smile, makes him one of a very lucky few that could be counted on a one armed man's hand, "Now, bear in mind, this should be painless, but, you may feel joy, happiness, when you view the memories I will be adding, keep in mind, they are not real, but, for Naruto, they are, and so, in essence, they are real, in a sense," he then performed the jutsu, and began copying the memories he had created for Naruto that involved his adoptive mother, when he finished, he waited as Anko assimilated the new memories.

[6:36:04 PM] Kevin Pal: When Inoichi activated the jutsu, Anko closed her eyes and her breathing slowed. These were the obvious signs that the jutsu worked and that Inoichi was inside her mind. She was still conscious, but her mind's eye allowed her to 'see' what Inoichi was doing in her head. 'You in there yet?' Anko thought in her head as she herself looked around in her mind.

Inoichi, who had just been transported into Anko's mind, nodded upon hearing her voice. "I'm here, and I've gotta say," He said as he looked around, taking in the environment that was before him. "What's with the black fog in this place?" He squinted in the fog and was just able to make out the walls around him. "I can barely make out anything two feet away from me."

Anko wasn't sure what to say about the fog. She had honestly never been inside her mindscape before, so she had no idea what it looked like. But by the way he was talking about it, it seemed like this was an unusual thing for mindscapes. 'I don't really know...' She told him in response. 'Maybe it's from my curse mark? The damn thing is always talking to me, so maybe you can hear it in here too.'

Inoichi nodded and became silent. It was quiet, but he was able to hear the voice Anko was talking about. He could hear the faint, dark whisperings all around him. The voice was close and far away all at the same time, and a thing like this wasn't common at all to Inoichi. He had never faced something like this in someone's mind.

From what Anko could see, it seemed like Inoichi was having a little trouble navigating his way through the fog, but with her help, he was able to get to her memories and plant the correct ones into her mind.

Back in the real world, as Inoichi created the memories, Anko smiled and continued to pet Naruto, already feeling the effects of the memories. Not long after, she opened her eyes again and Inoichi returned to the real world.

The same thing was done for Kurenai, who took Naruto into her arms while Anko left to get the other subjects of Naruto memories they would need. They all agreed for Naruto's sake, but were all unsure if it would actually work or not. Much to their surprise, they could recall the memories as if they had actually happened, and thanked a tired and chakra exhausted Inoichi for what he had done. That day, Inoichi had used family justu to add memories to Anko, Kurenai, Hana, Ibiki, Kakashi, and Yugao. That many people in such a short amount of time wore the man out faster than one would expect.

~Several minutes ago~

As Kakashi and Yugao left, Ibiki decided to stay as he saw his surrogate nephew asleep in Kurneai's arms. "So," Ibiki started, "Someone want to explain why my nephew is asleep in Kurenai's arms?" Hana nodded, agreeing with Ibiki, who still creeped her out a bit, but, he seemed close to Naruto, and Anko and Kurenai too, so he couldn't be too bad, even if he was scary.

Anko looked at her son in Kurenai's arms before casting a glance at both Ibiki and Hana. She was bound to find out eventually, even more so if she was going to be around them more often. She was quiet a moment as she gathered her thoughts. "He...he learned something about his father." Anko told her, hoping that it would be enough for the girl.

Unfortunately, Hana was not satisfied with the answer, and glanced at Naruto with curiosity, "What could he learn that would make him like this?" She asked, looking at the adults in the room expectantly. It was obvious to her that they knew something that she didn't, and she wanted to find out what that something was.

"S-ranked secret." Ibiki said quickly. Inoichi, Anko, Kurenai, and Ibiki all shared glances, silently agreeing on what the master interrogator had just said.

"Only Naruto is allowed to tell you about it. We'd tell you ourselves, but we aren't at liberty to say," Kurenai added to it, getting nods from everybody but Hana, who wasn't happy to hear this.

Hana now had a burning desire to find out what all of the hullabaloo was about, but she knew she wasn't going to get it out of any of them. She also knew that she couldn't bombard Naruto with questions because he would still be in a fragile state for a while after he woke up, not to mention it would just be rude, and nosey, to do so. Like the others, she had just been briefed on what was going on and how Naruto was going to react to everything upon waking up. Kakashi and Yugao took down all of the decorations as they left, but Kakashi had taken a considerably longer amount of time than Yugao to clean everything up...naturally, of course.

Hana sighed in defeat as she sat in front of Inoichi, and gave the man a nod before closing her eyes and be partially transported to her mindscape.

~Present time~

Several minutes later, everyone had been given the memories that would help Naruto, and Inoichi sighed as he looked around him to see the faces of the people that cared for Naruto. The Yamanaka clan head then looked at Naruto himself. He smiled at the boy and stood up. "I'll tell Hokage-sama what happened here. It's best if you all stay with Naruto. Also, I will be stopping by tomorrow to check up on him, after all," he said, smiling, "I am his doctor in regards to his mental health now, so, I should do a follow up session with my patient."

Anko said nothing as she simply gave Inoichi a smile. There weren't any words that she could supply to tell him how thankful she was for everything that he was doing for her sun, and simply watched as he left.

"Take care, Yamanaka-san." Kurenai said as he watched the man leave. The others all bid him farewell before turning their attention towards Naruto.

Slowly, Hana stood up as well and looked at the people around her. She turned to Naruto and gave him a soft smile before heading over to the door. As was suggested by Kurenai when she had showed up at the compound, Hana left her triplets at home as to not disturb Naruto, so it was just her walking back to her house, saying goodbye to the three remaining people as she headed out the door.

It became dark rather quickly in the village of Konoha, and Kurenai, Anko, and Ibiki all stayed in the Uzumaki compound to watch over Naruto.

Anko was thankful that Yugao and Kakashi took down all of the decorations, even more so when she had been told that they put the presents that were meant for him in one of the rooms of the branch building, which was just nearby. That way, they weren't disposed of if they had something important, but were kept away from naruto for the moment to keep him from relapsing.

The trio had stayed in the main room of the main building for the most part, just going around to the kitchen and through the hallways to find a bathroom. The main house had several bedrooms, not counting the master bedroom that had most likely belonged to Minato and Kushina when they lived in the house. The hadn't checked any of the branch or side buildings yet, and it had seemed that in the past, a more than decent amount of people lived in the compound, or Minato and Kushina had plans on populating the compound on their own.

Well into the evening, Naruto woke up slowly, looking around curiously to find out where he was at the moment. As he took everything in, he frowned, feeling a panic slightly, like when he woke up from his poison immunity training. As he tried to remember, it came back in a rush, and, in a moment of panic, he bolted up...or rather, he tried to, only to find himself being hugged by someone. Looking closely to see who it was, he saw it was his mother, and without hesitation, he hugged her, latching on with all his strength and refusing to let go.

For how long he had stayed like that, he didn't know, but he was sure that more than a few hours had passed before he felt Anko stir in her sleep. Naruto had not slept a wink as he lay there with his mother. He felt too unnerved to even think about leaving Anko's side, and the entire area made him uncomfortable. He was currently laying with his mother on the couch in the main room of their new home. He of course felt much better than he did when he fell into shock, but he wasn't as good as new. He still had the memories of being told that his own father was the one who had, in a way, cursed him, by sealing the fox into him, and Naruto still truly did hate him for that. He was just the slighest bit more okay with living in this large house, so long as his family was with him while he was there.

Slowly, Naruto looked up at Anko, who had wrapped the boy up in her arms as she slept behind him. When he looked up, he was able to see the bottom of her chin and her neck, as he was placed rather low in front of her. He took note of her not wearing her standard trench coat, and instead just had on her wire mesh shirt and skin-toned undershirt on her upper body.

When Naruto took notice of the curse mark, which he was barely able to see due to his position, he slowly maneuvered himself to touch it, getting a pained reaction from Anko. Because of her reaction, Naruto flinched in her embrace and decided not to touch it again. It wasn't the first time he had seen it, but it was the first time that he had ever touched it. Anko had told him that her curse mark was exactly what it sounded like, and it made her life awful.

"Kaa-san?" Naruto whispered quietly, poking her face to the best of his abilities in order to wake her up.

It didn't take long for the woman to wake, but when she did, she looked down at her son with a smile. "Naruto." She said softly, seeing the boy that was leaning into her body. "Feeling better?" She asked him.

Naruto looked down sadly, as he nodded, "I..." he paused, a little unsure, how to phrase what he wanted to say, in the end, he decided to just say the basics, "Sorry for what happened..." he said, still looking down, worried about how his mother would react to his apology, after all, he had basically allowed his emotions to rule him and cause him to pass out, and it worried his mother, that much he could tell just from looking at her, and while he was calming down from his panic since he was in his mother's arms, he was also sorry for making her worry.

Anko smiled down at him and sighed, bringing the boy closer to her by hugging him tighter. "It's alright, Naruto. It was a lot to take in, with the fox being inside you, and your father being the one to seal it into you, really, it's understandable." She looked around the main room to see Kurenai asleep on another chair, and Ibiki asleep leaning against the doorframe. It was pretty late as far as she could tell, as it was still dark outside, and it was probably best if they were to get home soon.

Seeing Ibiki and Kurenai over Anko's shoulder, Naruto's eyes widened in surprize, "What are Ibiki and Kurenai doing here Kaa-san?" Naruto asked innocently.

Anko looked at her two friends as Naruto mentioned them and looked back down at him. "They were worried about you, so they stayed around.." She responded to him, looking down at him. "Really, Naruto. I'm sorry that nobody told you about the fox sooner."

Naruto looked down sadly, before he began to stuttered out a reply, "I...I alrea-d-dy knew about her..." he said, trailing off. Trying to think of how to change the topic, he looked back at Anko, then at Ibiki and Kurenai, he felt happy that they had chosen to stay around and keep him safe, much like a family would.

Anko looked at Naruto with confusion. "Her?" She asked. As far as she knew, giant masses of sentient chakra didn't have genders like actual organic beings did, but she assumed that it made its own choices, and decided to be a woman. "You mean the Kyubi?" She asked her son, making sure that they were both on the same page.

"Um..." Naruto said with uncertainty, trying to make sure that he was absolutely sure that the woman he had seen in his mindscape truly was the Kyubi. She had the same aura as the fox, terrible and powerful, and she even acted like the fox as well. With a small nod, he answered. "Yeah, I met Kyubi." He said quietly.

'_**Kimiko.'**_ A mighty, yet feminine voice in his head spoke.

Naruto looked around confusedly for a moment before remembering that the fox had spoken to him like this before. _'What did you say?_' Naruto thought in his head, hoping that she was able to hear him.

The voice in his head became amused, and he could almost hear the smirk that she had put on her face. _**'My name,' **_She said to him. _**'Is Kimiko.'**_

'_Oh, okay!_' Naruto said with a smile, acting as innocent as any six year old would. Naruto looked up at his mother and corrected himself. "The Kyubi said her name was Kimiko."

Anko sighed as she thought about the name. "She must think highly of herself to have that kind of name..." She muttered to herself, but this did not get past Naruto.

"Whadda 'ya mean?" Naruto said just before yawning.

'_**Insolent!' **_The now named Kimiko huffed inside her prison. _**'My name isn't to be given out to every person you find on the streets!'**_ She told her jailer in a rather angry voice, making it known that she only wanted to be known as the Kyubi to the public.

Naruto winced as he realised that he should not have told his mother Kimiko's name without having first asked for permission to do so. Of course, the wince did not go unnoticed by Anko of course.

"What's up, Musuko?" Anko asked with concern as she noticed how he winced at seemingly nothing. She wasn't sure what it was about, but she believed that it might have had something to do with the fox inside of him. "Hungry? We can go out and grab something since all of the food here is old and inedible."

Naruto shook his head, looking down, this time ashamed, "I-I wasn't supposed to tell you her name," he said, "She says her name is not to be told to just anyone..." he said, looking away as he knew he could trust his mother, but apparently Kimiko didn't want Anko to know her name yet.

Upon hearing the two talking, Kurenai slowly woke from her spot in one of the chairs. The genjutsu mistress yawned and stretched as she looked around, taking note of the still sleeping Ibiki and Anko and Naruto talking. Seeing Naruto, Kurenai smiled and slowly got off of her couch. "Naruto, I'm glad to see you awake." She said to him, getting Anko's attention away from her son momentarily.

Giving a squeak of surprize and burying his head in Anko's shoulder for a moment, Naruto blushed in embarrassment from being caught by surprize by his godmother.

Anko was mildly surprised by Naruto reaction, because not only did he bury his head into her shoulder, but he was also dangerously close to her breasts because of his current position. Kurenai was also surprised, but assured herself that it wasn't on purpose. Kurenai gave her godson a nervous smile and looked at him. "Sorry, Naruto."

Naruto slowly peaked over Anko's shoulder, like cats sometimes do when looking over an edge or something, needless to say, an adorable sight, and looked at Kurenai,"Its ok Kurenai," Naruto said, still blushing in embarrassment, but it was hidden by Anko's shoulder, but not from his voice though, "Um...I was wondering...if it is ok with you Kaa-san, that is..." he paused, unsure of how to ask what he wanted to say.

Kurenai and Anko looked at the boy with curiosity. Both of them were curious on what he was going to ask, but Kurenai had just remembered something as she looked at her godson. "Oh, Naruto." She said to him, putting her hands out in front of her. "Before you say anything, I want to say something first." She glanced at Anko, who was still unsure of what she was going to say. "Because I'm you're godmother and all, and it really isn't safe to leave you alone with Anko for more than a few days without her doing something insane," She verbally jabbed at Anko, who grinned sheepishly but continued to listen. "I have decided to stay here in the compound with you and Anko. Don't worry, I'll carry my own weight and help around too. I won't be a freeloader."

Naruto couldn't help but smile happily at her words, "Thank you...," Naruto said, smiling still. He was also pleasantly surprised that she had happened to ask that, as it was what he was more or less going to ask originally, as it was, it was all the more easier to ask her his next question. "Can you take us out to Ichiraku's!?" He asked excitedly, the thought of eating Ramen making him whole again for the moment.

As soon as Naruto mentioned the Ichiraku Ramen shack, Kurenai could already feel her pockets emptying, thus causing her to let out a groan, not wanting to pay for all the ramen that boy could eat, but also wanted to make him feel better. She had to do a few tough missions to get back the money Naruto had, quite literally, 'eaten up' last time, and she was not going to do that again. Though, he had been through a lot throughout the day, and deserved a little treat for soldiering through it as best as he had. Before she could say anything though, another person made their presence known in the room.

"I'm willing to chip in." Said the grizzly voice. The deep and slightly gravelly voice of Ibiki surprised everyone, and Kurenai even jumped a little as she had almost forgotten that he was even there.

After they had traveled to the Ichikaru Ramen Shack and eaten their rather late dinner, much to Ibiki's horror at just how much Naruto had eaten by himself; Ibiki split off from the group and went home for the evening, telling them that he would be back in the morning if he didn't have any work to do. Kurenai split off as well, as she had to pack her things to move into the compound. She knew it would be difficult to move everything and decide where to put things in the compound, as she had just a room now, even if it was bigger than most, but now, all of the rooms of her old apartment combined, but she promised herself that she'd make it work.

In the morning, Naruto found himself waking up to another new area. It was obvious that he was in a bedroom of sorts, but it obviously wasn't his own, nor Anko's room. With his mother in mind, he could feel her presence right behind him, enveloping him within her arms like the night before when they slept on the couch. He felt better in her arms, safer, and though he didn't want to leave her, he wanted to explore the house that they would be living in now.

The boy carefully maneuvered out of Anko's grasp, making sure not to wake her or disturb her sleep. Even at his young age, he was fairly skilled in ninja arts, thanks to his mother, godmother, and uncle, and would make for a fine shinobi once he entered and graduated from the academy.

Once he escaped his mother's grasp, the young boy looked around the bedroom that he was in. It was rather large, probably just a little bit smaller than his old apartment, the one he lived in before his mother adopted him, and it had decorations and ninja trophies all over the walls, most likely from his birth parent's exploits.

As he thought about his parents, he realized that he hadn't heard much of anything about his birth mother. He knew who his father was, and was curious if his mother had been just as famous as his father had been.

Moving the thoughts aside, he looked at all of the ninja gear on the walls that obviously didn't belong to any Konoha shinobi, or any that were still around. There were different Hitai-ate's of different colors, styles, and villages, some of them being much different than the others, like one that had the Kumogakure symbol engraved into a metal shin guard. There were others that were clothing or armor accessories, but he pulled himself away from them to look at the variety of weapons on another wall, one of which was a large two handed war hammer with intricate and complex designs, not unlike the runes and symbols used in sealing, however, it also gave off an aura of strength and power, as well as the kind of fear that made you picture your own death by the weapon in your mind.

Everything that they had collected amazed Naruto to a point where he was actually thinking kind things about his bastard of a father again, instead of the dark; if not evil thoughts about what he wished he could do to his father, which he had been thinking of since the night before.

Naruto continued to look around the room, but the more he viewed each item, the more he developed an odd feeling in his chest. He began to find himself not wanting to go and see the other rooms. Not out of hate, but out of fear of what he would find, and this feeling would continue to develop slowly over the week whenever he was in the compound.

Over the course of the week, Naruto, Anko, and Kurenai all slowly adapted to their new surroundings, their new home, even if it was currently limited to some rooms in the main house because of all of the blood seals and preservations seals all over the place that had to be released. Anko had even moved out of Naruto's room of her own accord, to allow his parent's room to become his room. This led to a very interesting although also troublesome problem. The first time that Naruto slept in his new room alone, he was fine for about the first five minutes before screams of terror could be heard coming from Naruto's room, causing Anko and Kurenai to rush to his room to see him withering in terror in his sleep and sweating profusely. However, as soon as Anko held him, he calmed down, his breathing evening out and going back to sleeping peacefully. After a bit of experimenting, they found that Naruto could manage to sleep for about four nights a week on his own, with one day between each night he slept alone, the others being where he would share his mother's bed to chase away the nightmares, often with him waking up in terror, rushing to her room, and snuggling in under her arm.

Early one morning, Anko decided to head out to replace everything in the fridge so they wouldn't have to go out for food every time they wanted to eat. While she was out, she decided to stop by the T&amp;I building to see how Ibiki was doing. Unfortunately, he wasn't there at the time, so Anko had taken that moment to sneak into Ibiki's personal office for a look, as she had never been allowed to go inside. Much to her surprise, the entire office was modeled into a bedroom and office combination, much to Anko's anger. The next time she saw the master interrogator, she made it clear to him that he was going to move out of his office and into the compound with the three of them.

-Present-

Naruto woke up like he had for the last few days, in the room that was formerly his parents' bedroom, and by himself. It was odd to no longer sleep in the same bed with Anko every night like he had gotten used to, but he had gotten used to the new routine by now as well. As he looked around the room, he couldn't help but look back at the two handed warhammer longer than he had for any of the other items. There was just something interesting about it, something that pulled him to it, but he couldn't place what it was he found interesting about it, what it was that pulled him to it.

Naruto hopped out of the bed and went into the closet to get dressed as usual. As he did, he couldn't help but to look at the bed, which had a simply white and red color scheme to it. There was nothing truly fancy about the bed, but it did look nice, and stand out in the room.

After getting dressed, Naruto walked out of the master bedroom and entered the hall with several other bedrooms. His room was at the end of the hall, and Anko's and Kurenai's were just in front of his, to the right and to the left respectively. Ibiki slept in a room that was to the left of Kurenai's. There were more rooms down the hall, and it seemed fairly obvious that this was where the most important people of the main family slept.

As he walked down the hallway, he could smell food being cooked, and smiled as he made his way down the stairs and into the main room of the building. Kuenai had started to slowly teach Naruto how to cook, starting with simple foods, so that he would be able to cook for himself should Kurenai, Ibiki, and Anko all be out on missions for a few days, Kurenai had told him that in a year or two they would start teaching him to make more complicated foods and how to cook animal meats from hunting trips so that he would be ready for when he goes on missions later in life, interestingly enough, the food that Naruto made, often tasted 'divine', to quote his mother, even if Kurenai had made the exact same thing, the exact same way the day before, it apparently didn't compare to Narutos. The boy entered the kitchen and saw Anko and Ibiki sitting at the table, while Kurenai cooked the food.

Upon seeing Naruto make his way to the dining room and kitchen, Anko and the others directed their attention towards him.

"Morning, Gaki." Anko said with a smile, using one of the many nicknames she liked to use for him, and that he had grown used to being called by when she was referring to him. "What's your plan for the day? More training, relaxing, it's your choice for the day." Since his checkups with Inoichi had started, Anko made sure to let Naruto have some say on what he would be doing for the day to make him feel more in control of his life, as Inoichi had put it, doing so also made Naruto love his mother all the more, for allowing him to make more decisions for himself.

Naruto sat down at the table and thought about it for a moment. Really, the only two things he had been doing that week were training and relaxing with his new family, and having Hana come over to visit since she was, technically, their next door neighbor. For the most part it was training, but he had chosen one day to just do nothing. "I want to go see the rest of this place." He said somewhat quietly, getting Kurenai to stop cooking for the moment to concentrate on him.

"Are you sure? I'm not disagreeing with you, I think you should see the rest of your home, but you know how you reacted last time..." She was just looking out for her godson, and her worried expression told him that.

Ibiki was also curious if Naruto was serious about opening the rest of the doors. While not to Inoichi's extent, he was a master of the mind, and knew that even now, Naruto could have a relapse into what had happened little more than a week ago.

Once again, Naruto was quiet for a moment before speaking. "Yeah, I wanna see what kind of cool stuff they have in other rooms, like all of the headbands and weapons that were in the bedroom."

All three of them smiled at the boy. It sounded like something he would say, and it told them they he believed that he was ready to see what else there was left for him, and by extension, his family, which was them.

"Then it's decided." Anko said to everyone. "After breakfast, we'll check out the rest of the house." She looked at Naruto and smirked at him. "Better have a kunai handy," she added with a smile, "Just in case, you know?"

After breakfast, Ibiki and Anko helped Kurenai with the dishes while Naruto went back to his room to go and get his weapons. Once everyone was ready, the group began to unlock the rest of the rooms and buildings in the compound. There was a room much like a bath house, with both natural and seal powered hot springs with separate hot springs areas, such as co-ed, male, and female only sections, another room for trophies and weapons, many more bedrooms, a room with indoor plants and gardening supplies big enough to provide a village with all the ingredients it would ever need for medicine, and a massive library room that appeared to only be half full, which had many old stories and scrolls within it, among many other rooms in the building, there was even what appeared to be the beginnings of a distillery, and a powerful one at that, and while it appeared finished, there were apparently a few pieces that still needed to be connected, oddly, it also had the Uzumaki clan symbol stamped on the main pieces of the machine, implying it was of Uzumaki origin, this room in particular had caught Anko's attention.

After finding the distillery, they had decided to break up into separate groups and explore the house for a bit, and Kurenai decided to visit the bedrooms to see if any of them showed any signs of people living there, before they moved in of course that is, or if Anko, Kurenai, and Ibiki had missed anything that might cause problems for Naruto and his current mental health. Despite what she had been led to believe, one of the rooms had been used before, and showed slight signs of wear on the back wall. When she inspected it, she was horribly surprised to see what she found, and quickly shut the door, she would need to tell Anko about this room, so they could warn Naruto that it was off limits for now, due to the fact it would damage his mental health if he saw it too soon, had she been listening carefully though, she would have heard a 'click', followed by several cogs and heavy locks moving into place followed by a seal array spreading over the door she had just closed, before fading to the naked eye. While Kurenai found the room that would later worry Anko just as much as it had shocked Kurenai when she looked inside, Anko found a room that had the Uzumaki clan symbol on it, underneath it said, 'For Uzumaki members eyes only!' with a picture of an angry chibi Kushina shaking a fist underneath that. Anko paused, on the one hand, she wasn't actually an Uzumaki, on the other hand, she was, technically, the Matriarch of the clan, due to the fact she had adopted Naruto as her son, and loved him like he really was hers, and he was still ineligible to take the position of clan head, thus making her the clan head until he was old enough or eligible to take the position. Making her decision, she pushed the door open...and stopped, inside the room was row upon row of shelves, each shelf holding a massive scroll. Looking closer at the closest scroll title she gasped at what it said, 'Uzumaki Clan Whiskey Recipe and Brewing Techniques and Methods', instantly, Anko grabbed it and hid it in her coat, "I think I will hold onto this until I get a chance to test this stuff's strength and until Naruto is older...or at least allowed to drink anyway…"

Looking at some of the other scrolls, another one caught her attention, this one, because of what it was called, 'Uzumaki Adoption Ritual for Non-Clan Members into the Clan As Full Members', Anko was actually taken aback by this, 'Hmm, perhaps this could prove interesting...' she thought, as she took the scroll, and tucked it into to her cloak for later, when she could look at it with Ibiki and Kurenai at her side.

While Anko found the Uzumaki Vault that Kushina had left behind in the compound, and Kurenai found the room that Kushina and Minato had left protected by locks, a few seals, and gears, along with additional protections added by some other people, Ibiki had gone looking for categorizing what was in the different rooms so they could share their discoveries later. As he entered one room though, he found himself, in, what was to him, heaven. Scrolls, stacks of scrolls, all labeled with Uzumaki interrogation techniques, some involving seals, poisons, serums, plants, drinks and concoctions, and various devices like special chairs, tables, and other things.

Kurenai after leaving the room that had the room she found went on to look through different rooms of the house. Upon looking at the jutsu library she had found though, she found a small little sub-room with interesting tags of paper with small, intricate seals on them. There were notes and papers left beside them that said that the seals on the tags could be placed on a person, and then the person with the tag would be subjected to a genjutsu that could only be dispelled by removing the paper tag. She found them quite interesting, but wanted to know more about how they worked. There were more scrolls around in the room, but Kurenai decided to save checking them out for a later date.

Naruto and the group walked through another hallway, they had decided to meet up around this time, but this was hallways was rather void of doors compared to others. At the end of the hallway was a single door, but it stood out next to all of the other doors. It was rather ornate, with the Uzumaki crest under another clan crest that he couldn't name off the top of his head, but yet he someone how seemed to find it familiar. The boy walked over to the door and cut his hand once more, a little blood flowing out before the wound closed and healed. Like the previous doors, Naruto unlocked the door and took a look inside. The room appeared to be a study of some kind, if the scrolls scattered about and the room looking like a madman's workshop/room/laboratory/study.

Slowly, Naruto walked over to the largest desk in the study, making sure not to step on any of the scrolls on the ground, after all there was no telling if some of them had storage seals, which he was getting better at using with help from both Anko and Kurenai, and they were always careful to watch him, ever since that first time they had caught him trying to train with using his storage seals...the work room was still having to be repaired from that incident, and the disasters that followed. Whoever this room belonged to though, they sure didn't know what cleaning was. There were fuinjutsu theories and jutsu theories all over the place, but among them were a few letters. Naruto hesitantly picked one up and read through it. Two names that he was unfamiliar with appeared in the letter over and over again, but he had no idea why.

Anko, Kurenai, and Ibiki were all trying to clean up the place to the best of their abilities when they caught Naruto looking at them with curiosity. "What's up?" Anko asked her son, who simply turned the paper around for them to see.

"Who are Dympna and Jigan Uzumaki?" He replied.

~Omake - Fun With Storage Seals~

Anko and Kurenai had been teaching Naruto to use storage seals as part of the training they had decided to give him, this way, he would be able to use them when he eventually made genin from graduating the academy. The first attempt at teaching him had been...explosive, to put it simply. Much to their horror, Naruto had channeled so much chakra into the scroll, that it had started to glow causing the scroll to overload and explode, even more unfortunate still, the scroll in question, had had over five hundred kunai stored away in it, so when it overloaded, Kurenai and Anko had just enough time to grab Naruto and pull him out the door and close it behind them before there was an explosion and the sound of hundreds of impacts as the kunai in the scroll exploded outwards and destroyed the room. Needless to say, since then, Naruto had been strictly forbidden from using storage seals unless Anko or Kurenai or both of them, were there to watch him, and prevent what happened, from happening again. It took weeks of trying, but, eventually they had managed to get him to use a small amount of chakra for the seals, course, they ended up going through about two hundred storage scrolls before they had reached that point, and the room they had been using, was trashed to the point you would think someone was doing a makeover restoration of the room by tearing down the walls first. Sadly, having been emboldened by his recent successes with supervised training, Naruto had made an attempt to help Anko unpack some of her things in the Uzumaki Compound, this being a few days after he found out who his parents were, unfortunately, he had grabbed Anko's weapon scroll, needless to say, Anko and Kurenai called his name just as he was putting chakra into the scroll, and accidentally overloaded it, needless to say, senbon, swords, kunai, daggers, a few axes, some knives, and even a massive scythe, they all came exploding out of the scroll, barely giving Naruto time to dive under the bed as the weapons embedded themselves into the walls and door and some even going through and out the window. When they heard the explosion, Anko and Kurenai came running, needless to say, they had made it clear, Naruto was to be kept away from any storage seal not made through Uzumaki seals, as anything else, was just too weak for his dense, and powerful Uzumaki chakra.

**Tada! I hope you guys liked this chapter, since it was a lot of fun to write, and there were so many ideas formed for future chapters. As I said before, but not in the exact same words, there are pretty heavy implications in this chapter. Not to mention the emotional scene, which hopefully got you feeling something. Anyway, I'd like to hear what you guys have to say about the chapter and how well I did at parts like them first going to the compound, and how Naruto reacts to everything. Remember though, he is a six year old boy who lived believing that he had done something horrible to everyone, and looked up to Minato as his idol. His entire world crashed down on him because he found out that his own father was the one who had given him this horrible curse, and he just wants to hide and be safe for a while. With everything this chapter presents, Naruto won't be as loud or as obnoxious for a month or two, maybe more, that is if I don't surprise you guys. Oh, and starting with the next chapter, I will be adding segments for music to better convey emotions. Hopefully it'll go well, but we'll have to see.**

**As I said before, reviews are appreciated!**

**Until next time!**


	11. The Gamble

A full year had passed for Naruto and Anko, and neither of them had gotten any closer to finding out who those two people with the Uzumaki clan name were. However, their little family had grown bigger over time with the introduction of The Legendary Sucker, Tsunade of the Sannin, and her apprentice and surrogate daughter, Shizune. While the first impressions weren't something to write home about, Anko had managed to strike an uneven deal with Tsunade to get her to come back, one that favored Anko, Kurenai, Naruto, and Konoha more than people would initially think.

~~~~flashback~~~~

_Anko, Naruto, and Kurenai walked through a rather small town several miles away from Konoha. It had been almost five months since Naruto had found the documents stating Tsunade's relation towards Naruto as his godmother, and the three of them had all been eager to find her for their own varied reasons. They had been allowed to secretly go and find her by Hiruzen, as a S-Rank secret mission. It was labeled S-Rank because he wanted it kept secret from the Elders, and this was the best way to do so. He just wished them the best of luck before they had left. Officially, the mission was to retrieve a kunoichi who was vital to the village, and Naruto was to go with them as cover, Tsunade's name was kept off the paper so that if the Elders did get wind of it, they wouldn't be able to comment on it, as the mission was marked, 'Hokage's eyes only', so if the Elders did comment on it, they could be tried with treason for 'learning village secrets' due to the fact that it was only supposed to be aware to Hokage and the two kunoichi involved. Anko was the mission leader, Kurenai her backup, and Naruto was their 'cover' for the mission, was listed as 'child cover provided'. The official cover of the mission was, to be blunt, a joke, one that Hiruzen came up with, Anko agreed with, though, Hiruzen came up with the cover since he is a 'dirty old man', and Anko agreed with it cause she thought it was funny as hell, the cover for the mission was that, Anko and Kurenai were a lesbian couple who were on vacation with their son. Both of them were in agreement that, it would be best if they didn't inform Kurenai of what the cover is, after all, Anko was concerned about finding Tsunade and concerned for Naruto, and Hiruzen was old, his memory could be…'forgetful'._

_"Come on! One more!" Shouting could be heard at a bar a little ways away from the group. It was obvious that the woman that was shouting was enraged to no end, and it was proven to be true as a man was thrown out of the building through one of the walls._

_The man who was thrown through the wall hit another wall, and fell to the ground lifelessly. After a good moment of lying there though, the man got up, shaking his head a bit before looking up and yelling into the building, "I told you that's enough! You're going to run us dry if you don't stop!" He shouted as he dragged himself back into the building, obviously done putting up with the woman._

_Kurenai looked at Anko with curiosity. Anko returned the look and thought about the situation. Maybe the people of the bar would be able to point them in the right direction to where their target was, since the snake summons were only able to lead them so far before they eventually disappeared in a puff of smoke._

_With a nod, the trio walked into the bar, making note of the sizeable hole that the man had created when thrown through the wall._

_When they walked in, they were able to see a woman with a rather ugly scowl on her face looking at the men and women around her with hatred. She wasn't drunk, maybe buzzed at best, it seemed to them, but she was obviously irritated about not getting her drink. "All I asked for was another bottle of damned sake! Now you made me throw a guy through the wall!" She yelled to the people around her._

_She had pale blonde hair, brown eyes, and a somewhat fair complexion. There was a purple gem on the center of her forehead that made her stand out even more among the crowd, and she wore a green haori over a grey kimono-like blouse._

_A young raven-haired woman with a small pig in her arms approached the angered woman and attempted to calm her down, but was unsuccessful in the end. The pig in her arms moved around and squealed occasionally, as if it was a part of the conversation._

_"Please, Tsunade-sama. We should just go before you throw another person through a wall!" The younger woman said, getting the full attention of the trio._

_"Shizune, I already told you that I'm not going until I get another bottle of Sake!" The now dubbed Tsunade said to the young woman now identified as Shizune._

_Anko looked at Kurenai and grinned, "Perhaps it's time to implement plan A, stage one." she asked, looking at her surrogate sister._

_With a smile, Kurenai nodded and walked up to Tsunade, guiding Naruto along with her hands on his shoulders._

_Anko went and sat down and waited for Kurenai to sit down with Naruto next to her. Once they were, Anko heard purring from next to her, and looked over at Kurenai and Naruto, only to see the former petting her son's whiskers again, she gave Kurenai a deadpan but also slightly amused expression, "You really can't get enough of that, can you?" she asked._

_Kurenai smiled sheepishly and continued to pet her godson's whiskers. "Sorry." She said with a wide smile, unable to help herself._

_A small distance away, Shizune picked up on Kurenai petting Naruto's whiskers, and kept an eye on them as she continued to try to get her master to leave the bar. It was certainly an interesting sight, but she had other things to worry about at the moment that were more important than seeing an adorable boy purr._

_Sighing at Kurenai, and shaking her head at her response and reaction, Anko reached into her coat, and pulled a bottle out. On the bottle was a label that immediately caught Shizune and Tsunade's attention, as it declared it was, 'Uzumaki Whiskey, Mitarashi Style' with the second part of the name being underneath the name, meaning that it was a variant of the drink, obviously Anko's unique brand of the drink. Anko then reached over and pulled two shot glasses to her, very small shot glasses at that though, "If you want another drink, I could provide, but only if you hear us out, Tsunade Senju," Anko said, grinning like a shark, and watching Tsunade, who eyed the bottle._

_Tsunade kept her eyes on the shot glasses and the bottle that the whiskey had come from. She knew about that red swirl, and slowly moved to the other table to sit next to Anko. "Alright, what do you want?" She asked rather seriously, her anger still present, but different in a sense._

_Anko grinned, "Well, let's not BS one another here," she stated, smirking, You're the godmother of Kushina Uzumaki's son, and that white haired bastard, who I intend to torture…painfully, is the boy's godfather," here Anko paused, taking a deep breath for a moment to calm herself of the anger she felt for a certain white haired old man who happened to write her favorite book series, but also had a connection to her son, then continued, "Now, we want you to return to Konoha, to help raise the boy, it's up to you of course..." she finished, trailing off at the end._

_Tsunade clenched her fist as she looked at the group. Even in her buzzed state, the memories of Minato and Kushina resurfaced, and how they wrote back and forth. She remembered how she was in a little port town near the Land of Waves when she had gotten their final letter. "I'm not going to listen to this crap just to have a little shot of that whiskey! For all of the memories you're bringing back, you'd better give me that whole damned bottle!" She remembered how she had actually considered going back to Konoha to become the godmother of their child. She remembered how news of the Kyubi attacking Konoha reached her ears. She remembered getting the letter saying that all members of the Uzumaki clan were dead and nearly unidentifiable._

_Anko looked at Tsunade with a neutral look, she had thought this was going to be easy, but she was apparently wrong, now came the 'fun' part of the plan she had made with Kurenai, to get Tsunade to come back to the village, as Anko looked to Kurenai, letting her know she would be taking the lead, and Kurenai should just follow her lead._

_Kurenai nodded back to Anko as she continued to pet Naruto, which now had the full attention of Shizune as Tsunade was talking to the snake mistress for the time being._

_Anko looked over her glass as she drank her shot of Whiskey in one gulp, and then immediately shuddered from its strength, "Oh yeah, that's the stuff. That's the second time I had this stuff, first time I made the mistake of drinking a full bottle in one go, was out cold for a few days from it," she laughed for a bit,unable to hear Tsunade mutter something under her breath before putting down the glass and looking at Tsunade again, "Now, I have an offer for you, more of a bet really, if you're interested..." she looked at Tsunade meaningfully._

_Tsunade couldn't believe this woman. She sought her out, found her, brought back terrible memories and physical proof, and now wanted to make a bet with her. She must have been out of her damn mind, or totally insane, but Tsunade knew that she wouldn't be able to say no to a bet. "What is it?" She asked sternly._

_Anko grinned, "Ok, you play a game of poker, right here, right now, against my son here," she paused and pointed at Naruto, who had his eyes closed, enjoying Kurenai petting his whiskers and making him purr, and hiding his blue eyes from Tsunade, completely oblivious to what's going on around him, Anko looked back at Tsunade now, "Now, you win, the three of us will serve you, travel with you, protect you, help you, whatever...you...want!" Anko said, stressing out the last three words while staring at Tsunade as she said her piece._

_"And if you win...?" Tsunade asked, but already having ideas about how the strange woman was going to respond._

_Anko grinned, "IF_ _we win," she emphasized the first word, trying to make it seem like she didn't really have confidence in her son's ability to win so as to help fool Tsunade, "You will return to Konoha, you will become a member of the Uzumaki Clan your grandmother was a part of, and through her, you are too, and you will help the clan to the best of your abilities," Anko paused in thought for a moment, "Oh, also, I forgot to add, if you win, we will also clear every single one of your gambling debts, in every country you have been to, since, as your servants, it would be our duty to help you clear them," she grinned at Tsunade as she spoke, she could see the cogs turning in Tsunade's head as she thought about what she had just heard._

_Kurenai glared at her friend with wide eyes. Although she didn't say anything, it was obvious that Kurenai heavily doubted the plan with such high stakes. She knew that Naruto had luck like no other, but this bet seemed like a bit much._

_Tsunade smirked and nodded as she cast a glance at the boy. In her current state, she wasn't able to fully recognize his face, and assured herself that it was going to be an easy win for her._

_Unfortunately, it didn't turn out that way._

_Naruto had beaten Tsunade hands down, as he had the best hand one could possibly get, and she had the worst. A royal flush for him, and a pair of twos for her._

_Naruto smiled at Tsunade with his trademark foxy grin, and began to put all of the cards back together before handing them back to his mother. He knew that Tsunade was the godmother his parents had picked out, but he had also been told to not say anything until spoken to by Anko. He couldn't wait to see the look on her face when she would out that she was his godmother, he was literally hiding the urge to grin, laugh, and smirk._

_Tsunade sighed and cursed her luck. She knew she had horrible luck, but she normally didn't lose anywhere near this badly. She hated the universe for making her go back to where so many terrible memories lay, and cursed kami himself for making her go through more pain. "I'm telling you, though. Everyone in the Uzumaki clan in Konoha is dead. There's no godson to watch over, and no point to me coming back."_

_Anko shot a look at Tsunade, and couldn't help grinning, "You know, I saw the recognition in your eyes, when I pulled out the whiskey, you have to wonder, if they are all dead, how did I get my hands on genuine stuff? After all, probably not a good idea to openly claim I have access to Uzumaki Whiskey unless it is in fact genuine," she smiled, "Also, take a better look at my son here, I am sure you will be surprised," she was holding back her laughter._

_** com /watch?v=Izi9c43Mzbc**_

_Looking at Naruto closer, blinking a few times to try and remove the 'fog of alcohol', she began to take in all of his facial features, and even some of his tendencies from when they were playing. Tsunade looked at him with a blank expression for a moment before it shifted into something else. It wasn't joy or sadness, but rage. Pure, unfiltered, unadulterated, all-encompassing rage, and it had a target. In an instant, she smashed the table into particles and yelled at the top of her lungs. _

_"THOSE FUCKING MOTHER FUCKERS! I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL THEM!" She yelled to the heavens above, filled with absolute rage as she stomped outside and began to trash everything in her path. She saw only red, thinking back on the note that was, in hindsight, obviously from the council now that she thought about it, and not from the Hokage, and she knew it could have only been them, as Minato and Hiruzen never would have lied to her out of all people, that more people that were close to her were dead._

_Shizune simply watched with wide eyes as her master rampaged through the streets, walking in the direction of Konoha. "We should probably go after her…you know, before she starts killing people..." She suggested to the group, taking off to go and calm Tsunade down before they got in even more trouble._

_Anko couldn't stop laughing at how badly the elders and civilian council had fucked up this time. Kurenai on the other hand, was sheltering Naruto with her arms, protecting him from the splinters of the table. As Shizune broke off to go after Tsunade though, Anko calmed down and summoned dozens of snakes, ordering them to hold Tsunade down, before sending them off and summoning several more as back up and sending them off too. As she watched the snakes slither off, Anko reached into her coat, and pulled out a needle with a cap on it._

_Kurenai looked at Anko curiously with an arched eyebrow as she looked at the needle, which was a syringe filled with what appeared to be a white, and somewhat semi solid mixture. "What's that? A poison or something?" She asked, the curiosity obvious in her voice._

_Anko looked at Kurenai with a hurt expression on her face, "Course not!" she paused, "Well...not exactly anyway..." she said, trailing off at the end._

_"Not exactly?" Kurenai asked with a glare, now slightly aggravated at the vagueness of the answers. "What does that mean?"_

_Anko smiled sheepishly while scratching her head, "Um, let's just say it's a mix of crushed up 'Happy Pills', and a slight tranquilizer like solution mixed into to keep it liquid base with a tiny stasis seal to keep it fresh..." she said, trying to look at anywhere but Kurenai._

_"Oh Kami, Anko..." Kurenai sighed as she looked down at Naruto, hoping that he wouldn't turn out that way in the future._

_Anko looked affronted, "Hey, I had good intentions when I made it!" she said, trying to defend herself._

_Kurenai sighed once again, dearly tempted to face palm, had she not been holding her godson at that moment. "Just go get her." She told Anko before looking down at Naruto. "Come on, let's go see what your crazy mother is going to do…" She said to him, making the boy nod to go and catch up to her._

_Anko grinned as she took off with eagerness to try out the concoction she had made up, she had dubbed it her 'Happy Juice', and had created it to deal with any situation where they needed to calm someone down but who had a high resistance to drugs or medicine or other calming techniques, most of which, took a while to kick in anyway, so this stuff, entered directly into the blood stream, should do the trick. Five minutes of running later, and following the massive trail of destruction, which included collapsed houses, pulverized walls, flattened trees, and more signs that an Oni had gone through then an angry woman with super strength, she caught up with Shizune and Tsunade, the former of which, was currently trying to calm down Tsunade, though obviously unsuccessfully, while the latter was attempting to get past her and run in what was obviously the most direct direction to Konoha. Running up behind Tsunade, Anko took a deep breath and shouted, "HEY, IS THAT JIRIYIA HOLDING A 'MARRY ME TSUNADE' SIGN?" knowing it would get the blonde medic to turn around, while also redirecting her temper for a moment, thus catching her off balance, after all, Tsunade's hatred of Jiriyia, was infamous, as was his attempts to get together with her._

_"I'M NOT DEALING WITH HIS BULLSHIT RIGHT NOW! WHERE THE FUCK IS HE!?" Tsunade yelled, stopping and turning around to look for the old pervert, her anger temporarily shifting focus from Konoha to Jiriyia._

_Anko grinned, and jabbed the syringe into Tsunade's stomach, hoping she hit a blood vessel as she only had the one chance and the one dose of 'Happy Juice' so this one had to work, so, stabbing it in and hoping for the best, Anko stepped back, to watch, from the math she had done when she made the concoction, albeit very little math though, it should start working in about a minute at most, especially with Tsunade's blood flowing through her veins like a rapid river with her rage storming._

_**~end song~**_

_Tsunade felt the liquid being injected into her, and watched as Anko backed away. She had also taken notice of the syringe still inside of her, and pulled it out none too gently just before throwing it on the ground. She continued to rage around for a few more moments, but slowed down with each passing second, becoming sluggish, before finally hitting the ground with a loud and heavy thud. There was a soft smile on her lips as she lay down on the ground, the contents of the formula obviously working on her._

_By the time she had fallen down, Naruto and Kurenai had arrived at the scene just in time to see Shizune and Anko standing on both sides of the older woman. _

_Without thinking, Naruto spoke up to the women around him. "So... we're kidnapping my godmother?" He asked them, taking everything he had just seen into account, and also obviously trying to lighten the rather heavy atmosphere, even if it wasn't for long._

_Anko couldn't help it, she laughed, long and hard, at her sons words, it would seem she had taught him well, or he had picked up on her mannerisms, "I think I may be starting to help him open up and be funny, what you think Nee-chan?" she asked, looking at Kurenai._

_Shizune, who thought that Naruto's remark was somewhat funny, decided to be the serious one in this situation. "So he's Minato and Kushina's son?" She asked them, getting a heavy glare from Naruto at the mention of Minato. "I remember Tsunade-sama being really happy about finding out that she was going to be the godmother, and we were even making our way back to Konoha to look after him, but then we got the letter saying that Kushina and Minato died, and she was destroyed the same way as when my uncle and her brother died. She never even wanted to think of Konoha again." She explained to them all as she slowly picked Tsunade up, putting one of the older woman's arms around her._

_Anko got on the other side and helped Shizune out by helping to carry Tsunade on the other side. "I see." Anko replied. "And I'm going to assume here that someone told her that Naruto died as well?"_

_Shizune nodded. "Yes. The letter we got saying that Minato and Kushina had died, also stated that Naruto was among the many that died that day as well. Do you think you can find out who was the one to send the letter?"_

_Anko immediately pointed fingers at a certain war hawk. "I might have an idea or two..."_

~~~flash back end~~~

Needless to say, Konoha had seen a dramatic rise in those who went into the hospital for injuries incurred by severe beatings in the last several months. Then again, it was also understandable, given who was the one doing the beat downs.

In addition, Hiruzen had personally confirmed that the Uzumaki clan now officially had the grounds to accuse Danzo Shimura of tampering with clan business, despite this, they had decided to wait until later to actually accuse him, as Naruto had found a jutsu named the 'Hawk Buster' inside his father's library that was apparently connected to a specific type of seal, not unlike how the Hiraishin was connected to seals.

Tsunade had also been shown the adoption array they had found, and had been going over it to make sure it was safe to use, ever since she got back, with her taking breaks to beat the shit out of those who deserved it around the village. According to the update she had given just yesterday, Anko, who had volunteered to be the first adoptee/test subject of the array, would be ready to be adopted in a week or so at most. She was overjoyed, as it would give her another way to connect with her son. Given what little she understood of the notes, the line in the effects stating, 'Those adopted become full blooded Uzumaki' had caught her attention, well, needless to say, it would make her true family for her son, and really, what better gift was there for her to give her son. It also helped to motivate Tsunade that she had been promised twelve bottles of Anko's brew of the Uzumaki Whiskey, if she got through the notes and made the seal array work quickly.

_** com/watch?v=8LQH6UDi15s**_

"Hello to everyone of Konohagakure." The aged Hokage spoke through a microphone as he stood on a platform. Anko, Kurenai, Tsunade, Shizune, and Naruto stood behind him, out of sight. He looked out at all of the men, women, and children of his village. "I have come out today to announce something of dire importance. Something that is in relation to the history of the village, and its leaders."

In the large crowd, every capable Inuzuka clan member stood guard. They had been ordered by the Hokage to act as crowd control if things got too out of hand. Near the stage stood Tsume and her ninken, Kuromaru, taking on the charge of the mission given to her clan, given their wild natures and strong bodies, it shouldn't be too hard to do. Hana would have been nearby or beside her mother, had her genin team not decided to take a mission out of Konoha for the next week.

"In a few months, the widely celebrated annual festival in honor of the downfall of the Kyubi no Yoko will be held. What you do not know, is that it is also the birthday for the son of the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and Kushina Uzumaki the 'Red Hot-Blooded Habanero of Konoha', Naruto Uzumaki, the current Kyūbi Jinchuriki." He announced to everyone.

Immediately, there were outcries and screams of lies and how this was untrue, and that the Demon Brat should be killed and couldn't possibly be the son of the Hero who defeated it and sealed it in human form. Many people were already secretly plotting ways to beat the 'truth' out of Naruto, so they could prove their self-believed lies that he was nothing special true.

"Yes, my people. Naruto Uzumaki is the son of Minato and Kushina, and is the heir to both of their clans. He is also the godson of Tsunade Senju of the Densetsu no Sannin."

Naruto smirked at the outcries, and created several handsigns before disappearing in a flash of light. The boy then reappeared next to Tsume, who was holding an unmistakable kunai in her hand that was clearly shown to anyone who looked at the time. This of course scared the people around him with the exception of Tsume, and the boy disappeared again and reappeared next to Hiruzen this time.

"That's right everybody!" He said to the world. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. I don't want you to beg for forgiveness, and I certainly don't want you to kiss up to me either. I don't want you to vent out your hate on me anymore, but at the same time I don't want for you to idolize me and look at me for every answer. I've suffered from most of you, for all of my life, and I clearly do have the grounds to get back at you all, with a vengeance, but I'm not going to do it, because I'd be as bad as you are."

Suddenly, as he looked at the crowd, Naruto felt a small sense of danger in the back of his head. He had no idea what the possible danger could be, other than the obvious danger of being around thousands of people who openly hated him with a passion up until now. Little did he know, all of that hate would quickly change to another feeling in regards to many, but not all, of the people of Konoha. With the feeling still in the back of his head, Naruto grabbed a hold of Kurenai, Anko, Tsunade and Shizune's hands, before flashing out of the area, as the door behind them started to creak from the other side having pressure applied to it…

_**~end song~**_

~~~One week later~~~

For the last week, Naruto continued to have a sense of danger that refused to go away. He had no idea what he should be scared of, but all of a sudden, he had a chill go down his spine. A sense of dread washed over him as he walked through the village, hearing the sound of a stampede some distance away from him due to his enhanced hearing, and it was getting louder.

Naruto looked down the street, and was just able to see a rather large group of women running his way. Naruto's eyes widened as he began to run, but was suddenly picked up by Hana, who had jumped down from the rooftops, before running while carrying him.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked Hana, who ran with her dogs on the rooftops after having jumped back up onto the buildings roofs.

"Remember that incident from a year ago when all of the Inuzuka girls chased you?" Hana asked him, stopping briefly to set the boy on her shoulders.

"Yeah…?" He said back to her questioningly, remembering the day in question only so much. A sudden realization came to him though as he looked back at her. "Oh...RUN!"

At the Uzuamki compound, Tsunade, Shizune, Anko, Kurenai, Ibiki, and even Tsume were all sitting around in the main room, enjoying the temporary silence that filled the air.

Shizune had recently served everyone drinks, but Tsunade and Anko were the only two left that were still drinking. Kurenai finished her water rather quickly, Tsume didn't want anything at the moment, and Ibiki had said that he would get something later.

They had just been talking idly for the past several minutes, talking about how they had been adjusting to being an official clan now, how Naruto's training was going, and many other things.

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask you." Anko said to Tsunade, causing the older woman to look at the younger.

"Hmm? What was it you wanted to know?" Tsunade replied, taking another drink from her cup.

"Do you know anything about two people named Dympna and Jigan Uzumaki? We don't have anything on them other than their names, and we thought maybe you might know something." Anko explained.

Tsunade thought about the names before shaking her head. "Not really anything, sorry. I think I ran into them once... maybe twice at most before I left, but I've never really talked to them, or about them with Kushina." She tried to remember all she could about the two of them. "I think Kushina did said they were her aunt and uncle though, but I don't think they looked any older than she did."

Anko nodded. "Well, it's more than what we had a few minutes ago, so it's something." She said with a shrug. It was actually a fair bit of information, since they could use it to narrow the search about who they are and where they could be.

"Speaking of family." Tsume spoke up. "I think you guys have a problem."

This caused all of the heads in the room to turn to her with curiosity, wanting for her to continue.

"Naruto's the head of the clan, as well as the heir since he's too young to be put in charge. Anyways, I'm pretty surprised that nobody talked about it during the council meeting this week, and it's only a matter of time before Naruto's set up with Kunoichi to repopulate the clan."

Tsunade shook her head at Tsume and gave her a friendly smile. "We've got it covered, right Anko?" She looked to Anko with a smile, who returned the look with a grin.

"Yeah." Anko said, bringing the attention to her. "When we were first getting settled here in the compound, all of the rooms and doors were sealed off. With Naruto's help, we got into just about all of them, and there's no doubt more hidden rooms in this place. One of those rooms was a room dedicated to Uzushiogakure. All sorts of artifacts and things from the old village were in there, and one of those things was a special seal array." Anko looked at Tsunade to continue where she left off.

"This seal array is like no other. Each seal in the array is designed to change a certain aspect of the human body, since changing everything would be much too complicated for a single seal. Or, at least not one of a manageable size anyway, even for an Uzumaki. Basically, the array is drawn on a person and over the course of a few days, the person's body changes accordingly. The seal can be set with blood to give one person a specific relation to the person whose blood is used." She told Tsume, but was also aware that Ibiki didn't know everything about the array either. "This means, that if the person is made the relative of a Kekkei Genkai user, then there is a good chance they'll get it as well, depending on the relation that the person with the seal has with the one with the Kekkei Genkai. There's a little more to it than that, but that's it in a decently sized nutshell."

Anko could see the impressed looked on the others faces, "Remember Tsunade, I am to be your first test subject, and, if what you told me is right, that it should happen tonight then, correct?" she said, looking at the older woman.

Tsunade nodded back at Anko. "That's right." She looked back at Tsume to explain the situation further. "The reason we haven't done it sooner is because we were waiting for Naruto to get better at his seals. While he is improving nicely every day, he's going to need my help with it. I'm a little familiar with how it works, thanks to going over it once or twice with Kushina back in the day, Naruto should be able to understand it at my level or better, and we have a complete guide and diagram that we've been studying to make sure we get it right."

Tsume thought about all of the information she was just given for a moment before nodding. "So, if this works, and Anko biologically becomes Naruto's mother or something, then you would be able to use it on other people and also make them Uzumaki?"

Anko smiled as she nodded, "Yeah, so, if I am right, Naruto is probably going to want me to be his mother when I get adopted into the clan, if it works that is," here she looked at Tsunade.

Tsunade looked at Anko with slight confusion. "I thought that was what we were going for in the first place. Nobody told me anything, but I knew that you and he both wanted you to be set as the mother."

Tsume stood up and began to walk to the door. "It's been fun you guys, but I'll see you later when it's all done, I guess." She said just as she left.

Anko smiled as she got up, "Well," she said, trying to hide a grin, "I am going to go make sure that bikini I bought for the... Well it doesn't matter what I bought it for, you guys have fun chatting," as she left the room, leaving Kurenai and Ibiki confused about what she was talking about, and causing them to look at Tsunade for answers.

Seeing the two sets of eyes on her, Tsunade shook her head and cast a glance at Shizune, who had taken Anko's glass as well as her own to clean. "Don't ask me."

All of a sudden, Naruto came into the main room from behind, as Hana had dropped him off in the back instead of the front, just to make sure nobody was waiting there for him.

"Hello Shizune-nee!" He said happily as he passed by Shizune, he had started calling her his sister after a few weeks of living together at the Uzumaki compound, who smiled warmly back at him as she cleaned the glass cups. Everybody else turned to look at him as he made his way to the main room.

"Welcome home Naruto." Tsunade and Kurenai said to him at the same time, Ibiki simply nodding at his presence in the room.

Naruto looked around and noticed the absence of Anko. "Where's Kaa-san?" He asked them all.

All of a sudden there were sounds an explosion and a fight going on from upstairs, everyone looked at one another, before they noticed something, "Um, where did Naruto just go?" Kurenai, asked, the only evidence of him being there was a quickly dissolving dust trail heading for the stairs.

~~~Meanwhile, a few minutes earlier upstairs~~~

Anko made her way into her room at a slow and comfortable pace. When she reached her room, she made her way inside before closing the door behind her. She just had to make sure if it fit and looked good for when they would be using the seal array. It couldn't be too revealing, as Tsunade and Kurenai would probably have a cow if she wore something skimpy and provocative in front of Naruto, especially since he was her son, but it still had to have enough open room for Naruto and Tsunade to work with while they applied the seal, as it had to be applied directly to her skin.

_** com/watch?v=pXDPI0IZLsY**_

Anko stripped down to nothing before putting the bikini on. It had taken some time to find the right one, that was the perfect one, that would give them lots of space to work with, but not be like small patches of fabric over important parts that no boy Naruto's age should see. Before she could get out of it and back into her normal clothes, Anko felt a presence behind her, and a kunai pressed against her throat.

"You're not getting that seal." The person behind her said. Anko's eyes opened at hearing the voice, and wondered how it was at all possible that she could be right behind her.

Standing behind Anko was an exact copy of her, except, it wasn't her, it couldn't be, as it wasn't a shadow clone, but yet, it looked exactly like her, sounded exactly like her, and was flesh and blood, "I do not know why you're after the Uzumaki Adoption Array, nor do I know why you have taken the form of my sister, or what you are doing with him," the Anko copy said, "But, I will protect my home from some imposter, who would try so many dirty tricks on a young child to get the array," she said as she readied to plunge the kunai into Anko's throat, only to jump back as Anko released a smoke bomb that erupted with a loud bang.

Anko coughed and managed to get away from the woman who looked exactly like her, only with longer hair that flowed down to the middle of her back… Hopefully it was just someone in a henge, but she had a feeling that it wasn't.

"Kaa-san?" Anko could hear from outside the room. The voice was obviously Naruto, and Anko quickly opened up her door to let the smoke out, as well as get out into the hallway where there was more room to escape if needed.

Naruto was caught by surprize as the door to his mother's room opened and smoke started to billow out of the room, before quickly dissipating, needless to say, he was shocked when his mother came barreling out of the quickly clearing smoke, coughing and eyes closed, and dressed in only a bikini, and barreled right into him, sending them both to the floor, not to mention he caught site of his mother in her bikini she would be wearing later, which was purple in color to match the shade of her hair, he then looked over her shoulder, trying to look into the room to see what had happened when he paused, frozen, standing in the doorway, was a copy of his mother, except with longer hair, "Kaa-san, why are there two of you? You told me you still can't make more than three shadow clone before feeling exhausted, and even one wears you out a little." he said, looking between his mother, and the 'copy' of his mother.

The copy looked on the two in the hall way, Anko lying on top of the Uzumaki boy, and wondered why the boy had called the imposter his mother.

"Menm-" She asked just moments before she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head, courtesy of the last of the Senju.

Tsunade watched as the Anko lookalike fell to the ground. Knocking people unconscious seemed to be a popular thing for the people of this compound.

The oldest woman in the hallway looked at Anko and Naruto. She cast a glance at the unconscious woman on the floor, silently asking about what was going on.

Anko shrugged her shoulders and looked at the woman again, taking note that the only differences between her and the 'copy' were that one's hair was longer than the other and the fact that the 'copy' had no curse seal on her neck. "No idea, since it's obviously not a henge... But she did want the array for some reason."

Tsuande sighed as she pinched her nose and simply said, "Alright, let's just tie her up till she wakes up and we can question her with help from Ibiki," she said, though she was fighting a smile at the thought of what Ibiki would say about there being two Ankos now.

_**~end song~**_

~~~Half hour later~~~

Anko lay on her back in the center of the main room. She was on a mat that they had found in the room with all of the other artifacts, and it apparently went along with the array. On each side of her was a person, with Naruto to her left, and Tsunade on her right, and Shizune at her feet. They had spent quite some time preparing and making sure everything went perfectly, and now it was time for the real deal.

Both Naruto and Tsunade had ink and brushes, and their own copies of the guide that they needed for drawing out all of the seals needed for the array. This made it a million times easier for the two of them.

"Are you ready Naruto?" Tsunade asked the boy, who nodded in response and proceeded to dip his brush in the ink, Tsunade doing the same.

The two of them got to work on Anko, who tried her best to be as still as possible for them. It felt odd to be drawn on, but she couldn't say that it was a bad or uncomfortable feeling.

Naruto and Tsunade drew several seals and intricate designs all over Anko's body, just as the scrolls had specified. Every seal, every brush mark, every little thing had to be done a right way and at the right moment. Once each little seal was done, it would be activated, and then the person making the seals would work on the next one. When the seal is activated without the master seal being active, it would enter a standby mode, where the seal is only partially active and awaiting commands from the master seal.

One by one, Tsunade and Naruto drew the seals all over Anko's body. When the master seal was just about done, Naruto pulled out a kunai and drew blood from his hand, allowing it to fall onto the master seal which was on Anko's stomach. While Naruto's wound healed, Tsunade finished up the seal by making the proper adjustments to make the seal change her into his biological mother. When it was all done, and the seal was fully activated, Anko fell into a deep sleep, and the Array began to work its magic. The first thing to change, was her hair, while it still had its purple color, it also took on random strands of Uzumaki Red, and, rather than detract from her beauty, they appeared in places that would instead accent Anko's beauty instead, another quick change, was that she grew a few inches over a few minutes, according to the scroll, this was normal, so, as a result, the rest of the changes would come with time, however, it didn't exactly specify how long that would be though.

Naruto sat back on his butt, as he had his hands hold him up from behind him, "Well," he said, "I guess now all we can do is wait, right?"

Tsunade nodded, "Yep," she paused in thought, "I think we should wait to interrogate the look alike of your new mother, until after she wakes up, don't you agree Naruto?" she asked.

Naruto nodded his head, "Yeah, she will probably have questions to ask her...um, what do we call her, exactly? Twin, double, clone?"

Tsunade sighed tiredly, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "I have no idea..." she replied.

_**Omake: The Great Rivalry! Fanbase against Fanbase!**_

Deep within the woods and in a secret fort in Konoha, one known only to fan girls and stalkers alike, a fierce battle was going on between the heads of two of the newest fan clubs to emerge in the last year or two.

"Naruto's the best!"

"No, Sasuke's way better!"

These shouts and similar ones could be heard from everyone, each and every person in the fort having taken one side or the other in this battle.

Dozens of girls and young women had joined both sides, and whenever one side seems to gain the advantage in numbers, the other side soon caught up and surpassed it even if by only a member or two, needless to say, this was proving to be the most intense fan girl battle Konoha had seen since its formation few decades ago.

"Shut up forehead! It's obvious that Naruto is way better than Sasuke!" One Ino Yamanaka, daughter of Inoichi, the head of the Yamanaka clan. She had platinum blond hair that stopped just above the base of her neck and wore an orange shirt with black trimmings on it.

"Don't be stupid, Ino-pig! Sasuke is the coolest!" Sakura Haruno shouted, her green eyes staring at her former best friend forever and now enemy and rival with a fiery passion. She had bubble-gum pink hair and a dark blue shirt with a slightly higher collar than normal.

The two were always at ends, and always had a reason to argue against the other.

Ino would not loose in this fight, "Naruto is so adorable, he purrs when you scratch his whiskers!" she pointed out in a knowing tone of voice.

"That's stupid!" Sakura called out, a fire in her eyes as she thought about her beloved Sasuke. "Sasuke's gonna get the Sharingan, and will take all of the moves Naruto can do!"

Ino waved a hand in front of her face dismissively, "So what," she said, grinning now, "Naruto is the son of an S-Rank kunoichi, and an SS-Rank shinobi, not to mention related to three of the four Hokage," she said with a triumphant sounding tone of voice, believing she had the upper hand.

Sakura smirked and folded her arms in front of her. "Sasuke's whole family is filled with dangerous and powerful ninja, AND, his clan owns the police force!" She said with a smirk of victory, believing that she knew countless facts that would make Sasuke better than Naruto.

_** com/watch?v=bl4Sw5qJBgE**_

One of the other Naruto fan girls in the crowd suddenly raised her hand shyly, drawing Ino's attention, "Yes?" Ino asked, looking at the girl and causing everyone to look at her, which caused her to blush from the young girl had straight, dark black hair and wore a long sleeved shirt with a collar going up to her nose. In addition to the collar, she also had on a pair of sunglasses on to keep her face from being identified.

"From what I read, Naruto's clan was so powerful, that their home village was wiped out in the last war because everyone was scared of how strong they were..." the girl said, trailing off at the end, and causing a silence to rein for a moment over the hall due to shock at this bit of information.

Even Sakura became quiet at that for a moment. Wiping out a village cause of one clan's power was quite the statement after all. Suddenly, Sakura smirked and laughed. "They must not have been all that strong if they were wiped out just like that! Something like that would never happen to Sasuke's clan!"

"Um...actually..." the same girl from before said, still blushing, "It was a short term alliance, a combined effort between, two major villages and a half dozen minor countries, and of those, the half dozen minor countries armies were wiped out completely and the two major countries armies were cut in half..." she said, still blushing from the attention and causing another bout of silence by her provided information.

Sakura was rather shocked to hear that. They must have actually been powerful to bring on that much force, and deal so much damage before falling to ruins. She was silent for several moments before huffing and stomping out of the fort, along with several other young girls and women that fawned over Sasuke instead of Naruto.

Ino turned to the shy girl and smiled at her. "Thanks! You really helped show her who has the better clan!"

The girl blushed again, "You're welcome. My name is Inago Ab..." she faded off, trying to hide her embarrassment, as she knew a lot of people were freaked out by her clan's abilities, but those opinions were not her own, so she did not care as much as a normal person would.

Ino smiled, "Well, how about I make you the second in command of the Naruto fan club of Konoha?" she asked, earning many looks from other fan girls of Naruto who had wished for that position, now considered to be 'Konoha's Whiskered Prince' with the revelation of who his parents are, and his distant uncles.

Inago nodded slightly, still not entirely comfortable with so many people looking at her. While she was like most to all of the people in her clan, she was a bit more emotional, and more open about her emotions. "T-thank you…" She said quietly as she accepted the offer. She was secretly pleased with being made second in command of the club about her not-so-secret crush.

_**~end song~**_

Back at the Uzumaki compound, Naruto felt a shiver of fear run down his spine suddenly as he looked over his mother who was still undergoing the changes from the array. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see a small bug wandering around the compound.

**Hello everybody! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it is a bit smaller than usual. So… We've now got Tsunade, and the Uzumaki clan is once again officially taking residence in Konoha. Talking briefly on the jutsu Naruto did during the announcement, it is in fact NOT the Hiraishin, but something else.**

**With the seal, I think I've explained it pretty well in the story, but I'll run down it briefly here.**

**The Uzumaki Adoption Sealing Array is like a map of seals that is applied onto the person who wishes to be adopted. It is typical for the leader of the clan, or for whoever is in charge at the moment to apply the seals onto the person, but since Naruto is not old enough to be the clan head, and is not experienced enough, Tsunade helped with the array since the is vaguely familiar with Uzumaki seals.**

**Once the seals are made, they are activated. Because of how they are made, they enter a standby mode, like a soldier awaiting commands from the leader. They exist, and are ready, but cannot do anything until the master seal gives them the orders.**

**The master seal is the one where the blood is applied. It is also configured to make a person related to someone in a certain way, like the blood would be applied to the seal by Naruto, he'd continue the seal, but in such a way that it would make the master seal change Anko accordingly to make her his biological mother.**

**How that works is almost a reverse Punnett square. Since she's becoming Naruto's mother, she would not only gain all of the standard Uzumaki traits, but also the traits that Naruto got from Kushina. So, while Anko still be changed to become a full Uzumaki, she will also retain most of the traits that she had beforehand, and will just be more like Naruto and Kushina.**

**Anyways, I hope that you liked the music provided, and you can always use your own music for those moments if you want to! Please Rate and Review! Also be sure to tell us about how the songs worked!**

**Until next time!**


	12. The Double

Anko looked around carefully. She tried to see through the thick black fog in her way, but every attempt to see in front of her was unsuccessful.

She assumed it was her mindscape, as Inoichi had said something previously about black fog when he had given her the memories she would need. She had never been in her mindscape herself, so she was unsure if it was true or not. Only now she was sure because of what he had told her.

Anko continued to look around, still unsuccessful in her attempts. Suddenly, another figure appeared before her, one that she had not seen before.

The woman in front of her had long, fiery red hair, and violet eyes, and was dressed in a flowing kimono of various reds and oranges. Anko swore that she had seen the woman's face before, at the very least one time. She had a neutral expression on her face, and said nothing to Anko as she turned around, revealing a large battle fan on her back.

The red haired woman grabbed a hold of the fan and unfolded it, getting into a battle stance facing away from Anko. She then waved her fan around fiercely, causing a gust of wind that blew some of the black fog away.

Anko watched as she unnamed woman swung her fan around, and could only assume that she was helping to fight off the curse mark. With every motion the red haired woman made, Anko's mind became clearer, the dark whisperings getting quieter and further away from her.

With every gust of wind, the condition of Anko's mindscape became better and better. She was no longer haunted by the dark thoughts and whisperings of the curse seal, it was just her now.

Despite seeing the red haired woman right in front of her, Anko was unable to feel any presence in her mindscape other than her own. It was an odd feeling to Anko, but she got over it rather quickly as she enjoyed her now free and spacious mind.

She wasn't sure how much time had passed within the mindscape, but when she checked around once more, Anko was still unable to feel the presence of the woman that was blowing the last of the fog away from the confines of her mind.

Anko wanted to ask the woman so many questions, but she had not uttered so much as a single sound in the entirety of her stay in Anko's mind. The Snake Mistress, however, laughed and sang and made several other noises out of enjoyment. She had a feeling that the woman wasn't going to speak at all.

When the job was done, the red haired woman turned around to look at Anko, who had been watching her blow the fog away for at least several minutes. She did not say anything, nor change expressions, and Anko was left wondering who she was and why she was there.

When the unnamed woman turned to look at Anko, the purple haired woman was finally able to get a good long look at the woman, and was now able to identify where she had seen her face before. Before Anko could say anything to her, the red haired woman turned back around and began to walk away from Anko and into a seemingly random corridor. Anko wanted to follow her, but she was too busy wandering around and seeing all of the various parts of her mind.

The other occupants of the Uzumaki Compound were gathered in the living room, their current prisoner tied to a chair in the corner with a gag in her mouth, all the while watching them. Gathered for this meeting were the Third Hokage, Inoichi Yamanaka, Ibiki Morino, Naruto Uzumaki, Tsunade Senju, Shizune, and Kurenai Yuhi, and they were discussing how best to find out who this apparent duplicate of Anko was, the Hokage had been brought in by Ibiki requesting his personal presence at the compound, and Inochi had been called over by Kurenai so he could help get to the bottom of this.

Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at the duplicate of Anko for what had seemed like the hundredth time since he had gotten to the compound. He was quite confused as to how there was another Anko. One was more than enough to cause havoc to anyone who crossed her, and two was sure to be a curse from kami himself for everyone.

"Please, explain to me again what happened." He asked, looking at the others gathered around the room.

Naruto looked at his family, before looking at the man he thought of as his grandfather, "Well, I came home and asked where Kaa-san was when there was an explosion from upstairs..." he said, still confused as to what exactly the duplicate of his mother was, "When I got up to her room, the door opened and Kaa-san flew out of the room, and some of the smoke got out too. When I was tackled by Kaa-san, next thing I know, there was another Kaa-san standing in the door. But she had longer hair than the real Kaa-san." He explained the situation to the best of his ability to remember, but looked to the others in the room for help on better wording.

Kurenai nodded and cleared her throat briefly before speaking. "When the rest of us came to see what was going on, we just saw two versions of Anko. The duplicate was about to say something, but Tsunade knocked her out before we could understand her." She looked at Ibiki, Tsunade, and Shizune, who all nodded in agreement. "There isn't anything else to the story as far as we're aware."

Hiruzen nodded slowly, thinking over what next to say. The old Hokage looked at Tsunade, who nodded in recognition. "Have you done tests to see if this imposter really is Anko?"

Tsunade nodded once more, taking a glance at the unconscious woman. "Yes, but, at the same time no." She started. "Me and Shizune have run tests on both Anko and whoever this is, but because Anko is currently going through changes, her DNA isn't exactly the same as it once was. The results are close, probably exact, but we can't tell for the reasons I've already said."

Hiruzen took in the information. It made no sense to him, as Anko never had a twin, and was in fact an orphan as far as he could remember, but there had to be some answer to the situation. He turned to Ibiki, looking at the scarred man curiously. "Have you started the interrogation yet?" He asked, wondering if anything had happened from between the time she was knocked out until now.

Ibiki shook his head, "I wanted to first wait till Anko woke up. It's been two days since the array was applied, so I decided to start without her. Once she wakes up, she can get a turn at the imposter." Ibiki responded, taking a glance at Inoichi, who nodded back and looked at the Hokage. "Inoichi is here in the event that this person turns out to be a tough nut to crack. If she's anything like the real Anko, she will be. We can start whenever you're ready, Hokage-sama."

"I see." Hiruzen said to himself. He looked at Inoichi briefly before looking at the strange family before him. "This woman attacked the temporary head of the Uzumaki clan, making this a situation of clan affairs. By all means, you should have the right to decide when to start the interrogation here. She has never been recorded on any document before. She's a ghost, and because of this, her fate is in your hands."

Naruto stepped forward, "Thanks Ji-san! I'm sure she had a good reason for causing so much trouble. With Ibiki and Inoichi-san's help, we can get that reason!" He said, looking at his surrogate uncle and the mind walker.

Ibiki looked at Naruto, "Of course we will Naruto, no worries," he then looked at Inoichi, "Shall we get started?" he asked the mind walker, who nodded in agreement. Taking a chair and turning it around so the back was in front of him, Ibiki sat down and leaned on the back of the chair as he looked at the duplicate, "Alright, I am going to remove the gag, and I would prefer if you could remain calm and answer some questions. Much as I would like to be rougher about this, we want to keep it clean for Naruto's sake over there, understand?" he told her, pointing at Naruto as he spoke, and waited for her to respond to his words.

The duplicate looked at Ibiki for a moment before nodding and letting her shoulders droop, a gesture that could only be a replacement for a sigh of annoyance.

Seeing the nod, Ibiki reached up and removed the gag, when he did, the duplicate said nothing, keeping her non spoken word to remain calm. "Ok, first off, what are you?" he asked, before seeing her confused look, he sighed, and decided to reword his question, "A clone, a duplicate, what?"

The woman looked at Ibiki, before suddenly grinning, "Come on Ibiki, the whole interrogation game is way past me. I can hold my own against anything you throw at me, remember?" She started with a smile, tilting her head just slightly.

She was surprised to see Ibiki shake his head at her, acting as if he had no idea what she was going on about. "Wait, you're serious?" She asked with a much more curious tone of voice.

The scarred man nodded his head at her. "I have no idea what you're talking about." He said dryly.

The imposter looked at him incredulously. "You have to be fucking shitting me! UGH!" She threw her head back in disgust, sighing as she returned to normal.

"You're sure? Whatever, fine." She acted as if she didn't have a care in the world anymore, and the slightly aggravated undertone in her voice suggested that she believed she was telling them something they already knew.

She looked at him in disbelief, squinting her eyes at him and tilting her head to the left and right frequently. "How can you not remember me? I... I'm the one who got you that friggin' black kitten for your thirteenth birthday as a prank gift and you treated it like a goddess!" she said, "You even went so far as to name it Amaterasu, and you're absolutely sure that you have never seen me in your life, EVER?"

After a moment of silence from everyone, the imposter sighed and looked down at the chair. "Fine, you want to play this? Let's play this." She said in a calm tone of voice. "My name is Yugana Mitarashi, older twin sister, arguably, to Anko Mitarashi, seeing as she likes to claim she is the older twin, and student of Orochimaru of the Densetsu no Sannin, jonin of Konohagakure no Sato, and friend of the Uzumaki and Namikaze families." She stated to them officially. "Ring enough bells for you all?" She huffed, wanting to be released to fulfill her mission.

Ibiki looked at the now named Yugana and took a small breath. He had never heard of this woman before in all his life, and he was sure that Anko didn't know her either. "Why were you attacking Anko, imposter?" He didn't want to use the name that she had given herself, choosing to press on the detail about her looking, talking, and acting just like Anko.

"Ha!" She laughed loudly. "You're calling me the imposter? That woman you call Anko is the imposter here, since none of you seem to remember me. The real Anko isn't like her. She doesn't have a tomoe tattoo on her neck, and her hair sure as hell isn't up in a ponytail like that either!"

Ibiki looked at Yugana with a critical eye, "Anko is not an imposter, you are the unknown here," he said, looking at Yugana still, "As for the curse seal on her neck, it was a 'gift' from that bastard, Orochimaru of the Densetsu no Sannin. It was given to her the day he betrayed and fled from Konoha for his crimes."

Yugana's eyes widened at his words. She couldn't believe how Ibiki was talking about Orochimaru. "You take that fucking back!" She snarled at him. "Orochimaru is a good man! He'd never do something to hurt me, Anko, or the village! He loves Konoha, and is one of the most respected people here!"

Ibiki looked at her weirdly, "Orochimaru's crimes were discovered by the Third Hokage himself, hundreds of Konoha citizens, both shinobi, and civilian, found murdered and mutilated by inhuman experiments in a secret lab under Konoha, Orochimaru is considered one of the most dangerous missing nin of the elemental nations!" he declared.

"LIAR!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. Her world was collapsing, crashing around her, and she didn't want to believe that the man she saw as a father could do horrible things like that. She wanted to believe everything she remembered, but she couldn't. Everything presented to her within the last few minutes had broken down everything she believed, and the woman began to shake. Everything she had been told and experienced had all been a lie. She began to sob uncontrollably. Wherever she was, she didn't exist here. She knew all of these people, but they didn't know her. Her sobbing turned into tearful crying. She wasn't even real, most likely a just a creation of some sort by the horrible and inhumane Orochimaru of this reality.

Ibiki looked at her, and sighed, "Would you consent to having your memories be checked by Inoichi Yamanaka?" he asked, he kinda felt bad for her now.

Quietly, the woman replied, shaking her head at Ibiki. "No... It's all fake, all lies..." She responded to him, not wanting to face the cruel reality that she was just exposed to.

Naruto looked at Yugana with sadness, he could tell she was in pain, and stepped forward, so that he would be in her field of vision, "Please, Yugana-san, let Inoichi-san see your memories, maybe they are real. If anyone could tell for sure if they were real or creations, I am sure he could." he said, looking at Inoichi as he finished.

Yugana looked at the blond boy before her. He was so familiar, but at the same time so much different. It hurt to even say his name in her head, but she needed to hear it in the real world. "Menma..." She said quietly, her tear filled eyes looking at him as she sat there. "Fine... It'll be worthless though..." She hung her head and looked down at the ground.

Naruto looked at her curiously, "My name is Naruto, who is Menma?" he asked, his head tilted to the side in curiosity, while Inoichi walked forward and formed the connection.

As painful as it was to remember, Yugana thought about the young blonde that she knew. "Just like you..." She said as she drifted off, falling victim to Inoichi's jutsu.

Naruto looked to his godmothers and the Hokage as Yugana's memories were reviewed by the head of the Yamanaka clan.

A half hour later, Yugana slowly opened her eyes. They were still puffy and red from crying, but they didn't look as bad as they did before Inoichi looked at her memories. Not long after her eyes were opened, Inoichi returned to his own body and woke up as well.

The mind walker looked at the men and women around him, all of them wondering about what he had found.

With a slight nod, he answered their silent question. "If they're fake, I can't tell. Everything I saw was as real as it can get, and not even I can make memories as real as those ones. No one, not even an Uchiha, could create real memories like hers." He told them honestly.

Ibiki nodded back and thought about what he had just been told. "But that raises another question, as well as a problem. Where did she come from to get those memories?" He asked generally, going quiet once again to think. Despite this, he was stuck on thinking how he had apparently been given a cat for his thirteenth birthday, and decided to name it after a goddess and treat it as such. As he thought further on this, he knew that it would be something that Anko would do to him as soon as she hears about Yugana's life. He knew all too well that she would pull a joke like that for shits and giggles.

Looking at Yugana, Naruto was thinking heavily. As an idea came to him, he looked at the Hokage excitedly. "You said I can choose her fate, right Jiji?" Naruto asked rather hurriedly.

Hiruzen looked at his surrogate grandson, "Yes, doubly so, since she does not technically exist, I will also do my part to keep existence a secret," he nodded.

Naruto jumped up and down in excitement, much to the confusion of the others, and Yugana. "Yes!" He exclaimed loudly. "Jiji, I wanna put her in the clan!"

Yugana was shocked by what Naruto said. She was silent for a moment, quietly sobbing and tearing up again, but this time from a mix of sadness, and happiness. "Why...?" She said almost inaudibly, looking up at him slowly. "I assaulted Anko, tried to take clan items, I don't even exist!" She began to sob harder. She was confused, surprised, and happy all at the same time. "Thank you, thank you..." She chanted over and over.

Naruto smiled a *genuine innocent smile, "Because," he replied, "You are Kaa-san's sister, my aunt!" he finished with a heartwarming smile.

Yugana was surprised once more. She wasn't real in this world. She wasn't Anko's sister, but he treated her as such anyways. She smiled slightly and looked down at the rope that bound her to the chair. "Please untie me... Naruto…" She knew it would take some getting used to, but she would make the effort. The Orochimaru she knew would want her to face something like this with everything she had and not give in.

The others in the room looked at one another, but before anyone could move, Naruto walked over to Yugana and quickly untied her, allowing her to stand up from the chair.

As soon as she was free from the chair, Yugana tackled Naruto into a hug and held him tightly to her. She was so thankful that she had given him a chance at life in this different world. "You won't regret this." She said to him, her eyes threatening to have tears to burst from them.

Before Naruto was able to respond to her, a knock was heard at the door, as well as the yipping of seemingly several small dogs.

"I'll get it." Kurenai said, walking over to the door and opening it to see Hana with her pups.

"Hi Kurenai-san!" Hana said happily. The young woman glanced inside the house, unable to see anyone from her spot outside. "Has the adopting thing begun yet?" She asked, remembering what her mother had told her before she left.

Kurenai nodded, "Yes, well, about that..." she began, before trailing off awkwardly.

Hana's eyebrows knitted together as she wondered what the elder woman was talking about. "What happened?" Hana asked curiously.

"Weeeell..." Kurenai replied, trying to think of the right answer, "Um, how can I put this?" she asked more herself, then Hana.

Naruto suddenly called from the *living room, "Hey Hana, I have an Aunty now!" he said cheerfully.

Hana moved around to look inside the house. Kurenai had noticed this and allowed the young woman in, letting her come inside to see Naruto being hugged somewhat tightly by a woman who looked remarkably similar to Anko.

Hana looked back at Kurenai for an answer, but the older woman sighed and shook her head, not wanting to explain the rather long night that they had. She then looked back at Naruto and the strange woman, who seemed to recognize her, at least vaguely.

"Your marks are different, and you've got dogs!" The woman exclaimed, taking note of the differences between the Inuzuka's she knew and the one she was faced with now.

Hana could only look at the woman with a confused look on her face as she looked to the adults of the room, before looking at the woman again and saying intelligently, "Eh?" with her confused look still on her face.

"Long story short. She's from another world." Inoichi answered as he sat down on the couch, taking note of how Yugana had a little experience with the Inuzuka clan, and how they were cat lovers rather than dog lovers.

"Oh...kay...?" Hana answered unsurely, not entirely sure how to comprehend and react to something like that.

Naruto smiled again, "Isn't this awesome Hana-chan?" he asked, "I have an aunty now!" he grinned.

"I, uh...I see..." She smiled widely, but still unsure about how to properly react to the situation, given the new context. "Anyways, Naruto. How is your mother doing? Kaa-san wanted to check in, but she has to watch my brother while he picks out his Ninken, hopefully one that is smarter than he is." she said, smiling at the little joke she made at the end.

While she asked her question, the Haimaru triplets wandered around the living room, investigating the numerous new scents and people. Suddenly, they began to walk into one of the hallways, apparently following a scent that they had picked up.

Before Naruto was able to respond, Hana cut him off as she noticed her pups leaving the main room.

"H-hey! Get back here you three, come on!" She tried to get the triplets to come back to her, but to no avail. Eventually, she was forced to follow them to get them back.

Hana followed the three pups through the halls, eventually into Anko's room where she saw the pups licking Anko's face and sniffing her.

Quickly and quietly, the Inuzuka girl scooped up her pups and walked out of the room, hearing whimpering from all three of them as she re-entered the main room. As she rejoined the group, she sighed and bowed slightly. "Sorry about that." She apologized for her pups, which all had their paws on their faces. "I'll make sure they don't wander off too far next time."

Naruto suddenly looked at Kurenai, "Um, Kurenai, is it ok if we have a party to celebrate Aunty Yugana joining the clan?" he asked, trying to stay calm despite obviously being excited of the thought of a new aunt in the family.

Kurenai hummed in thought, tapping her chin every so often as she weighed the options. "Sure. But only after your mother wakes up. She'd hate to miss out on a party, even with the circumstances at hand."

Naruto grinned massively, "YAAAAAAAAY!" he shouted as he whooped in joy, causing those watching him to smile at his enthusiasm.

Inoichi smiled as he looked at Kurenai and said, "Would it be alright if I invited Shikaku and Choza to the party?" he asked.

Kurenai smiled and nodded, "Yes, but, try and leave the kids at home, alright?" she replied. "Nothing against them, but you know, secrecy and all."

Inoichi nodded to Kurenai. "I understand. My daughter tends to talk more than she needs to, and something like this isn't something she needs to spread like wildfire." He said with a small smile.

Hana looked at Kurenai, "My mother is invited right?" she asked, "And, don't worry, I intend to make sure my brother is...preoccupied when the party happens so he... is unable to attend..." she said, smiling darkly as she finished *speaking.

"Uh, yeah! Yeah, sure. Okay Hana." Kurenai nodded to the second youngest in the house.

Hana smiled, "Oh, and don't worry about my brother, he won't be...permanently, harmed at all, just unable to attend the party when it happens," she said, her smile turning a bit too sweet when she finished speaking.

"...Yeah. Just make sure it isn't illegal." Kurenai told her, wanting to make sure that she and her family couldn't be blamed for whatever Hana planned to do with or to her brother.

Hana pouted, and jokingly stated, "Oh sure, be a kill joy why don't you," she said before laughing, "But seriously, don't worry, I just don't want a repeat of the whisker incident." she reminisced, getting Yugana to look at her in curiosity. "Anyway, I was just thinking that it'd be unfortunate if he happened to down an almost unhealthy amount of laxatives and prunes during his meals before the party," An evil smile made its way to her face as she planned out every little detail.

"Uh... No." Kurenai responded with a deadpan expression. "He's your seven year old brother, and you're just supposed to keep him away from the party, not belt him down to the toilet."

Hana pouted cutely as she looked at Kurenai, "Oh come on," she said, "He totally deserves it after revealing that fact about Naruto's whiskers last year!" she said, "Plus, I do not intend to allow him the chance to ruin this party by revealing the secret that Anko has a sister now to the entire village," she finished.

As she explained, Hana was unable to see Yugana move away from Naruto and creep over so she was standing behind her, stopping just inches away from her. "What's this about whiskers?" She asked into Hana's ear.

Hana jumped in shock at how close Yugana had gotten, before putting a hand over her heart, "Please don't do that!" she said, taking a deep breath to calm her heart, before replying "Anyway, a year ago, there was an incident during Naruto's poison immunity training that Anko gave him," Hana started only to be cut off by Yugana.

"Poison immunity training?" Yugana asked in a rather serious tone, no longer joking around. The purple haired woman moved away from behind Hana and walked in front of the Inuzuka girl. "I know that everyone here is different from how I know them, but I'm absolutely sure Anko would never do something like that to a kid, especially not her kid."

Tsunade was just about ready to throw someone through a wall upon hearing about the poison immunity training. "She WHAT?!" She yelled, not caring if she woke up half the village. "She better be thankful for the stronger life force of an Uzumaki when she wakes up, she's going to need it!" She clenched her fists and looked around with a scowl engraved into her face.

Hana smiled sheepishly now, "Well, actually, they were manageable doses, but, they just kinda overwhelmed Naruto from what I heard about the doses," she said awkwardly, "Truthfully, I came into the situation when they lost track of Narut-" she was again cut off, this time by both Yugana and Tsunade shouting in unison. Kurenai could only shake her head in both amusement and embarrassment, forgetting that she was present for said event as well, but for longer than Hana.

"SHE LOST NARUTO!?" They shouted together, both enraged beyond belief.

Hana immediately gulped in fear, trying to think of a way out of this, before she remembered the other person involved in the event, "Well, talk to Kurenai about it, she was with Anko when they came looking for me or my mother to help them find him!" she said, her words causing Kurenai to choke and gasp for air as she had just taken a sip of her drink when Hana said her defence line.

Kurenai quickly looked for an escape route as she noticed the two angry women coming over to her to interrogate her, and watched as Ibiki smiled in the background, clearly enjoying this.

Inoichi looked at Ibiki with confusion. He glanced at the women in the room and Naruto before looking back at the interrogator. "I know Yugana is new here, but is it always like this around here?" He asked, worried about the safety of others if things got out of hand.

Ibiki smirked, "More or less, seems that everything surrounding Naruto tends to be...explosive..." he said, trying very hard not to laugh as he spoke.

"Hey...!" Kurenai attempted to say something in her defense, but quickly faded away as she wasn't sure what to tell them. "How about, instead of blaming me," She motioned with her hands as she spoke, "We just blame Anko!?"

Yugana gave Kurenai a dead pan look, "How much were you involved in this fiasco of a poison immunity training incident?" she asked seriously.

Hana decided to speak up at that moment, "By the way, we ended up finding Naruto in the Forest of Death," she said, shooting a grin at Kurenai from behind Yugana and Tsunade, which Kurenai returned with a glare.

Kurenai glared at Hana briefly before returning her focus to the two angered woman before her. None of them had noticed that Naruto walked away and took a seat next to Ibiki, and would be unable to notice this until this fiasco was dealt with. "Look, I just caught Naruto running from Anko with a bunch of senbon in his back. I pulled them out and got mad at Anko, and in that time Naruto disappeared...and reappeared in the jaws of a panther..."

Tsuande and Yugana looked at Kurenai with a dumbfounded look on their faces. The two turned to each other, with Yugana speaking first. "Would you do the honors?" She asked the Senju woman.

With a smirk, Tsunade shook her head. "You know what? We'll just wait it out. After all, it wasn't really her fault, much more Anko's than hers." She had a large cheesy grin on her face as she spoke, and Kurenai knew that it was a promise for pain in the future, she just hoped it didn't include her.

Hana smiled, "Anyway, after we rescued the unconscious Naruto from the Forest of Death," she said, looking at Yugana and Tsunade, "We got back to the Inuzuka compound, and I was, um..." she blushed, trying to think of how best to phrase that she had been petting Naruto's whiskers to help keep him calm.

It was time for Kurenai to smirk at Hana, and get a bit of payback for earlier, and she did so with such fashion and grace that it could have been considered a crime to look that devious. "Oh yes. You were just in love with hearing him purr as you were petting his whiskers." She laughed loudly as she remembered how the girl encouraged her mother to pet Naruto's whiskers as well, and shot another smirk at Hana for good measure.

Hana glared at Kurenai while she had her arms crossed over her chest, but she was unable to get the effect she wanted due to her face being as red as a tomato, "I was...mesmerized...by his purring when I was petting his whiskers," she defended herself, hearing the snickering from Yugana, Ibiki, and the snorts of laughter from Inoichi and Tsunade, with Shizune apparently blushing from picturing Naruto purring.

"Okay, okay. I think I'm going to be heading out now, before I bust a gut. It was good seeing and meeting you all." Inoichi said as he got up from his seat and headed towards the door. The others nodded and said their goodbyes as he left.

Hana decided to try and regain control of the situation, "OK, anyway, back to the retelling," she said, looking at those remaining in the room, "Now, apparently my stupid little brother was eavesdropping when we were talking, and then went and spread word all over Konoha that, when you pet Naruto's whiskers, it makes him purr," she finished.

Kurenai nodded, "Yeah, and because of your little brother, Naruto has stalkers and fan girls now..." she said, trailing off at the end, "Oh, and their numbers have only grown since it was revealed who Naruto's parents are," she added.

Yugana raised an eyebrow at the reveal of Naruto's parents, but soon shook her head afterwards as she reminded herself that things were different than what she knew.

Hana saw the look of surprize on Yugana's face and realised something, "Naruto's parents are alive in the world you came from, aren't they?" she said, more as a statement then a question, one that also caught Naruto's attention instantly.

Yugana noticed that look that Naruto was giving her, and nodded slightly. It seemed like something happened to Minato and Kushina, but what exactly, she didn't know. "Yes. Yondaime-sama sacrificed his life so Konoha could live in peace. Menma has a family, but he doesn't really... connect with them, I guess."

Everyone in the room gave her a funny look when she mentioned the Fourth Hokage.

Yugana looked at the people around her as if they had two heads. "What are you looking at?" She asked them, unsure what the problem was this time.

They all looked at one another before, surprisingly, it was Naruto who spoke up first, "Um, aunty Yugana," he began, "Kaa-san Kushina was the wife of the Fourth Hokage, which was Minato Namikaze-baka," he said, saying his father's name distastefully.

"No..." Yugana said with slight confusion. "Minato didn't become the Hokage. Yondaime-sama is Kizashi Haruno." She explained to them. "He had a daughter a few months before he died for the village, and his wife, Mebuki, had to raise her on her own.

Kurenai spat out the drink she had just taken a sip off before coughing violently, "Wait, you're kidding me, right?!" she shouted in shock, "Your telling me the husband of the pink haired banshee on the civilian council was the Fourth Hokage in your world?" she said incredulously.

"I... guess so? I didn't know them that well." Yugana replied. "Kizashi-sama was a good man, though. I'm not sure if he is different in this world, or reality, or whatever this is, but he deserved the title of Hokage and earned it."

Kurenai looked at Yugana weirdly, "How exactly did he earn it?"

Naruto suddenly spoke up, "Can you tell me about my birthmother sometime aunty Yugana?" he asked hopefully.

Hana decided to point some things out at that moment though, "I am sorry to interrupt everyone but, I realised something," she said, looking at them all.

Kurenai looked at Hana quizzically, wondering what she had realized. "What is it?" She asked the girl.

Hana spoke up before she lost her train of thought, "First, Yugana tried to kill Anko, and even called Anko the imposter, that means someone must have told her something or given her a mission making her think it was official or something." she said, pointing out what everyone had missed so far apparently, even Inoichi, "Secondly, we should ask Yugana about key people and figures in her world, so we can compare it to this one, and help her fit in better," she finished.

Yugana nodded and tried to remember all she could. As much as she tried, she couldn't remember anything about someone telling her to take out Anko. All she knew was that it was something she just knew. "I... I don't remember anyone, but I can tell you what I know about everyone and everything that I know about."

Yugana began to explain as much as she could, with Naruto, Hana, Kurenai, and Ibiki all chipping in to help her get better acquainted with the world she was now in and what was different.

Some of the changes that Yugana had mentioned included Kiba loving cats, Shino hating bugs, Hinata being confident, and to quote some of the others from her world, 'scary', and Neji being a pervert on the scale of Jiriyia, but even more so because of his special plans to utilize the Byakugan which he had just become proficient with, Kushina still had the title of 'Red-Hot Habanero', so not everything was different, but some things, not as many, were the same as well.

"So," Kurenai said, "It would seem there are many differences between our worlds, in yours, Orochimaru is still loyal to the village, and even has orphanages in several of the countries of the Elemental Nations," she said.

Yugana nodded, "It's just... I can't believe that somebody as smart and caring as Orochimaru is such a horrible person in this world..." she said sadly.

Naruto went over to Yugana, and hugged her, "I am sorry that the man who raised you, is not the man you knew in this world aunty," he said, trying to cheer her up.

Yugana hugged her nephew back and began to tear up. "It's alright... My Orochimaru would have wanted me to continue on with life, even with something as ground breaking as all of this... It's just so sad knowing that I'll never see him again..."

Hana smiled softly at the scene before her, it was hard to believe that only a few days ago, Yugana was trying to kill Naruto's mother for some reason, and now, she and Yugana would probably be very protective of Naruto.

Kurenai suddenly had a thought and decided to voice it, "Yugana, you told us that your Orochimaru ran orphanages, right?" she asked, looking at the woman who was the twin of her surrogate sister.

Looking at Kurenai, Yugana nodded as she let go of Naruto. "Yeah." She replied. "He had orphanages all over the Elemental Nations. They're hidden so the kids stay safe!" She said with a smile, looking up in thought. "I helped a lot with brining orphans to the orphanages, even got myself a nickname, Yugana the Kidnapper!"

Kurenai nodded in thought, "What if our Orochimaru's bases, are in the same locations as your Orochimaru's orphanages?" she suggested, getting the attention of Ibiki and Yugana immediately, "Also, further into my reason for asking, I am sure our Orochimaru, may have Uzumaki survivors at some of his bases," she said, "What if, after you too are adopted into the Clan like your sister, you help us liberate those bases and bring them to Konoha, if there are any that is of course," she suggested.

Yugana thought about it. Of course she wanted to see how different the bases were compared to the orphanages she knew of, but she now knew what kind of monster the Orochimaru of this world was like, and she was afraid of what she'd find. "Sure..." She answered quietly. "But maybe sometime later. I want to know more about everything and everyone here first."

Kurenai nodded, "I figured as much, but I just wanted it to be out there as something for you to consider. After all, if he does have any survivors, we can't let them rot in his bases for his sick experiments, but, that is for the future. I just wanted to mention it and hope you will think about it in regards to helping us in the future," she said, smiling softly at Yugana, "First you get settled into being here now, and then, later, we can try and help those who Orochimaru has kidnapped, or bought off slave traders, or taken in through lies," she said.

"Of course." Yugana agreed. The woman looked around at the people in the room. Tsunade and Shizune seemed to have retired for the night without anyone noticing, and Ibiki was on his way to his room. "Well, it's been a long day, so we should all get some rest!" She suggested, getting Kurenai to nod at her.

Naruto pouted cutely as he looked at Yugana, "How about you sleep in Kaa'-san's room tonight?" he suggested.

Kurenai snorted, knowing there was only the one bed, and Anko was currently in that bed of that room Naruto suggested, "I am not sure if that's a good idea Naruto," she replied.

Yugana shook her head at them, smiling slightly at the offer. "Thanks, but that's her room. I'll find my own, or sleep out here until I can get a proper room." She said to them.

Naruto pouted, "Then you can share my bed!" he said cutely, "Besides, you won't sleep on the couch, Clan Heir's orders!" he said cutely, trying to be demanding.

Kurenai couldn't help it, and giggled at the site of Naruto trying to be a proper clan heir.

Yugana smiled at Naruto's suggestion. While she didn't know everything, she was aware that Kushina and Minato, the Yondaime in this world instead of Kizashi, died the day of Naruto's birth, and the Kyubi was sealed into him. That meant that he was the heir to two clans, and since he was too young to be a clan head, his mother had to step in for the moment. "Thank you Naruto." She said to him kindly. "Since I can't disobey your orders, I'll share your bed."

Naruto grinned, and then ran up to her and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the stairs, before stopping and turning to look at Kurenai and Hana, "Night Kurenai, night Hana-chan," he said, before pulling Yugana from the room like the child he is.

Hana couldn't help it, she laughed when they were out of the room, the scene she had just seen had been so adorable.

Kurenai stifled her laughter with her hand, "According to Anko," she said, trying very hard not to laugh now, "Naruto is a real cuddle bug when he sleeps. We'll see you tomorrow, Hana." she finished, watching as Hana and her pups left the house to return to their own home, smiling and giggling at the thought of Naruto cuddling his new aunt, or anyone near him.

Several days passed after Yugana was revealed to have just appeared in the world. Things started to get back into routine, more or less, with Yugana even teaching a few things to Naruto while they waited for the changes to finish up with Anko's body.

One morning, a purple and red haired woman slowly trotted through the Uzumaki compound groggily. Despite now having an outstanding metabolism, and healing factor, she felt like she had downed several bottles of the Uzumaki whiskey's finest, straight and untampered with.

As she slowly made her way through the halls, she decided to stop by her son's room, wanting to know how long she had been out. The woman slowly opened the door and looked at Naruto's bed, only to see her son and the purple haired imposter cuddling together in their sleep. Her eyes went wide at the sight, and she quickly scrambled to find a kunai, but was unsuccessful due to the fact she was still wearing a bikini. Cursing under her breath, Anko told herself that she could finish the job with her bare hands.

As quick as she could, Anko stumbled into Naruto's room, making her way to the bed.

Kurenai was having a quiet and peaceful morning. Since Anko had been subjected to the array, things were more peaceful in the mornings, no explosions or pranks being set off or pulled. She believed it was mean to say that she liked having Anko unconscious as to not disturb her mornings, but she knew that it was true.

The genjutsu mistress was making herself some breakfast. Tsunade and Shizune had gotten jobs at the hospital, and Ibiki had been regulating his interrogations as to not run out of people to psychologically assault and break down, so it was mainly just Kurenai, Naruto, and now Yugana in the mornings, with Hana stopping by from time to time with Tsume.

Hearing footsteps, Kurenai looked around. They were off beat and irregular, making Kurenai wonder who it could be. Since Yugana wasn't official yet, she didn't go on any missions, and had a normal sleep schedule. Naruto was homeschooled, so he slept in later than normal as well, so it could only be one other person.

Kurenai quickly walked through the halls of the compound, making her way over to where their rooms were. She saw that Anko's door was open, and the woman gasped. She began to move much quicker to inspect the room, and saw that Anko was no longer in there. She turned around and looked around, noticing that the door to Naruto's room was open just slightly. She stepped into the room and saw Anko, now with red and purple hair, ready to attack Yugana.

"Anko!" Kurenai whispered loudly, but not enough for the words to be registered in her mind. "Anko don't hurt her! Anko!" She continued to whisper before finally walking over to her and pulling her away from the sleeping duo.

"What? She's trynna take my spot! She can't do that!" Anko slurred out groggily.

"Anko, she isn't taking your spot. When they wake up, and you aren't... however you are right now, then we'll explain everything, okay?" She attempted to reason with Anko.

Suddenly loud stomping could be heard from downstairs accompanied by rapid footsteps before Tsunade came into the hallway outside Narutos room and looked around, seeing Anko's open door and wondering where she could have gotten to, "Kurenai, you here?" she called, hoping that Kurenai was here and knew where Anko was, since as they all knew, Anko wasn't the most predictable woman, and if she were to suddenly wake up and see Yugana, she might enter attack mode.

"We're in here, Tsunade." Kurenai said in response.

Tsunade pushed her way into the room and immediately took stock of the situation before going up to Anko, who was resisting and trying to get free and shouting to let her go, before placing a hand over Anko's face and causing her to pass out from a simple medical jutsu to help knock out unruly patients. "There," Tsunade said, as she watched Anko suddenly sag into Kurenai's arms like a sack of bricks being dropped, "That should keep her out for a while, as we do a check up on her now that she is awake, in a sense…" she said, helping Kurenai carry Anko back to her room while, the now also awake Yugana and Naruto followed quickly in their respective sleep wear to hear about the changes in Anko. Naruto was particularly curious about the changes his mother had under gone from the array, and hoped that nothing bad had happened to his mother.

Omake: One Thing Leads to Another. The ANBU prank war!

The first day after Yugana's little introduction into the clan, Naruto had decided he wanted to bond with his new aunt, so, when they were all having breakfast as a family, Naruto turned to Yugana and said, "Hey, Aunty, what do you say to a little bit of good old fashioned fun and chaos?" he was smiling, but it was a devilish smiled, one that Kurenai recognised instantly, and Tsunade and Shizune had learned to fear, and Ibiki had learned to groan about as it usually caused trouble for him.

Before Yugana was able to respond to her nephew's question, a silver haired jonin appeared in the kitchen. Moments later, a purple haired woman appeared as well.

"How about no." Kakashi suggested, taking a glance at Yugao, who shook her head slightly.

Naruto pouted, "Oh come on Kaka-san," he said, using the pet name he and Anko had come up with as a way of teasing Kakashi and to annoy the hell out of him at the same time, needless to say, it worked every time, "I haven't pulled a prank in months!" he whined.

Kurenai sighed and rubbed her nose, "And for damn good reason!" she said, drawing the attention of the others in the room, "Even your mother was a bit afraid when she found out about that last prank you pulled!" she shouted, "Granted, Anko found it funny as hell, but she is still scared about if the clans find out it was really you that pulled them!".

Yugana looked at Kurenai and Naruto with confusion. "That last prank?" She echoed the genjutsu mistress. "What was the last prank he pulled?" She asked generally, but was hoping for anyone other than Naruto to answer.

Naruto grinned like a mad fool, "Only the most awesomest prank in the history of Konoha!" he said with pride.

Kureni pinched her nose, "It was not awesome, funny, yes, but, only because of who you left the blame on!" she stressed.

Naruto pouted, "But he DESERVED to be blamed for it, even if it wasn't his fault!" he responded.

Kurenai sighed, "Even still, you do know that many of the clans can't target you cause of the fact they owe you their allegiance since you won it in that poker game, so they intend to target him instead!" she responded seriously, "Not to mention that they didn't realize it was you, like me and Anko did," she mumbled.

"And thats the point Kurenai!" Naruto pouted stubbornly, "They don't know it was really me that did it!" he grinned now, thinking of how it will be hilarious as hell the next time the target of the shinobi council's wrath will face the next time he enters the village.

Yugana sighed, "Will someone just tell me what happened already?" she rubbed her temples.

Kurenai sighed, "Tweedledee here," she said, pointing at Naruto, causing him to let out a small 'Oi!' of indignation, "Found out who his godfather was, and showed me and Anko the paper he found, indicating who he was," she sighed, "Needless to say, Naruto was not happy with finding out he had a godfather who did jack shit for him while he was growing up the last six years, well, the six years before this last one, as this last one me and Anko have been looking over Naruto," she said, "Anyway, Anko has..._plans_…for Jiriyia, not sure what they are as she refuses to tell them to anyone, but I have heard her late at night cackling with glee in an insane manner as she mixes poisons and hallucinogens together for hours at a time," she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Knowing Anko though, it's bound to be extremely painful...and horrific for that old perv…" she finished, trailing off at the end.

Naruto smiled, "What she is trying to say is, I burrowed his appearance from the last photo Jiji had of the old pervy toad," he said, grinning with glee, and causing Yugana to realise that Naruto must have damaged Jiriyia's reputation with this prank he was now talking about. "Anyway," Naruto continued, "Using shadow clones, and the transformation jutsu in conjunction with one another, I pranked every shinobi clan in Konoha!" he said with pride.

Kurenai rubbed her temples with both hands at the memory, "What he is failing to say is he planned them with basic Uzumaki style time release seals and security seals so that if they were discovered they cause a chained reaction within a 30 meter radius," she clarified.

Naruto again grinned when Yugana gave him an incredulous look, "What exactly were the pranks and what was pulled on which clans?" she asked, almost dreading the answer.

Naruto grinned again with a mad genius like grin, but before he could answer, Kurenai cut him off, "He put sneezing powder in the food supplies of all the Inuzuka dogs and clan members," she started, this caused Yugana to snort at the image of all the Inuzuka clan members and dogs sneezing for hours, "He put itching powder in all the Hyuuga's underwear, even the branch members, and they were set to activate the first time they were exposed to air after making contact with human flesh first," she continued, this caused Yugana to stare at them with a dumbfounded look at how a kid got his hands on stuff like that, "For the Uchiha, he put kick me signs on their clothes, that were only visible to people without the Uchiha Sharingan. Something to do with how their eyes filter things because of their doujutsu. It was a prank seal developed by Kushina apparently that reportedly got a fair amount of people in trouble." she further continued, "He dosed the Aburame's food with time release laughing potions he claims he got from some man traveling through Konoha selling pranking goods and who was apparently scheduled to leave hours after Naruto bought the stuff, next he replaced all of the Akimichi clans food supply with diet friendly foods, gave books on tips of 'how to beat your husband into submission' to every female in the Nara Clan, shaved off all the hair of Hiruzen, and Asuma Sarutobi as they slept. For the Yamanaka clan, he cut their hair to buzz cuts as they slept," Kurenai sighed, "And finally, the Kurama clan, he replaced all of their ink supplies with scat," she finished. However, before Yugana could say anything, Naruto grinned even wider.

Yugana sighed, "There's more, isn't there?" she asked, already guessing the answer.

"Yes, there is..." Kurenai replied, "He pranked the entire Anbu Corp. and Uchiha police forces," she sighed, "Thing is, he made it look like the each side pranked the other, causing a prank war that lasted for four whole months!" she shouted the last part, glaring at Naruto, who replied with a grinning smile.

Yugana blinked, "And he did all this disguised as Jiriyia?" she asked.

Naruto continued to grin, "Yep!" he replied.

Yugana smirked, "You do realize that means the entire village will be out for his blood, right?" she asked.

Naruto lost his grin, "Umm..." he thought for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, "Punishment for the peculiar pervert!" He replied, grinning once more..

Yugana shot a look at Kurenai, "Oh, the pranks didn't go unpunished, but it was still funny to see how they directed their rage."

Naruto huffed lightly and smirked. "That'll teach him."

**Hello once again everyone! Once again, not the biggest chapter around, but it gets the job done. So… Meet Yugana! She is the second Original Character to be formally introduced in this story, but not the last. She represents what Anko used to be before she got the curse seal. She looks up to Orochimaru, is strong hearted, kind, and confident. Also, if there are inaccuracies to the actual RtN, then I apologize, but those inaccuracies are going to be like that for forever.**

**Anyways, I hope that you all enjoy this chapter, and review if you can!**


	13. The Panther

Anko woke up groggily and in an uncomfortable position. Due to the seal array, she was still unable to function at full capacity, so it took her longer to process just what she was in. She attempted to move her arms without luck. Something bound them in a crossed position, and her legs were strapped together as well. She was unable to move her head down to look at herself, but she quickly recognized that she was in a straitjacket. She could also tell that it was true due to the fact that a mask covered the lower portion of her face, with a small barred window at her mouth so people could hear her when she spoke, albeit muffled though. She began to move and thrash about, her memories coming back about the impostor who she had found sleeping with her son in her arms. The woman looked just like she did, and seemed to have the same talents that she did.

"You're absolutely sure that she won't be able to escape?" A voice spoke from small distance away. Anko could easily recognize that it was Kurenai's voice, and attempted to move her head to look at the red eyed, raven haired woman, without any luck.

Next to Kurenai, Tsunade nodded, looking at the bound woman as she thrashed about in anger. "Mostly…" She replied offhandedly, shrugging and examining which parts of the jacket seemed to be getting the most wear and tear. "After all, nothing is entirely escape-proof, especially for a Kunoichi of Anko's caliber and unpredictability."

In the corner of the room, Yugana sat with Naruto, reassuring him that his mother was alright, and just a little agitated at the moment.

"She has a few strands of red hair." Yugana pointed out vocally, getting Tsunade to nod once more.

"The seal's worked. I'm not entirely sure why she doesn't have a full head of red hair, but in all actuality, it isn't a bad look for her." She shrugged once more, imagining all of the different and unique things Anko would be able to do with her new fiery strands of hair. "It seems she has their temper as well. I'm surprised she hasn't ripped that jacket to shreds yet, but I guess a few seals courtesy of the seal master-to-be helps with that."

Naruto blushed at the title given to him by Tsunade. He and his family had been working to make sure that he was adept in his clan's talents, and he had excelled with sealing. The array that had been used on Anko was a kage level seal array, due to the abundance and complexity of all of the seals used. He had mastered a few of the Jonin level seals and a larger amount of the Chunin and Genin level ones as well. He was well on his way to becoming a seal master in his own right, but still had a long ways to go. Months ago, he had found out that Uzushiogakure had a more strict ranking system, and a number of the Genin level seals that he learned were considered high Chunin level seals in the eyes of Konoha.

He also excelled at creating his own seals, having to move his work elsewhere in the compound to avoid destruction of any of the more important buildings. One of his favorite seals was one of his own design. It was a pressure seal, and when sat on, it would release a cloud of near toxic gas that could easily clear out a room. He hadn't developed a name for it that his family would accept. 'Fart Cloud Seal' was one that Naruto wanted to call it, but the majority of his family decided against it. Surprisingly, Kurenai thought it was rather funny to give it such a brutal and direct name, but she seemed to be the only one who was not against using that as the name for the seal. Many of the members of the new Uzumaki clan in Konoha had been subject to the testing of this seal, unknowingly of course, since its creation, and as of a few months prior, it had been outlawed from use inside the Uzumaki clan grounds. Despite this, he still used it to prank Kurenai, who did not hold it against him.

Naruto had also been studying his clan's laws. The Uzumaki clan was notable for being honorable and holding their word until the end. There were only a small handful of moments in all of recorded history that ever had the Uzumaki clan going against a deal that they were a part of, and those times were only because the other party was going to break the deal in the first place. The clan also had several branching skills for the other jutsu types. His family had trained him to the best of their abilities, but he still lacked in kenjutsu due to the fact that Yugao was unable to teach him as well as she wanted to. Even with that setback, he was going to be an amazing student at the academy, one of the best as far as his family was concerned.

Naruto looked at his mother with concern. She was mad, but it was not the worst that he had seen from her. He was in the arms of Yugana, but reached out as if to touch his mother from a distance. "Please Kaa-san, calm down. We're just trying to make sure the seal worked right."

Anko grunted and made an effort to look in the direction that she heard her son's voice from. She said nothing to him, and continued to thrash about in an effort to get out.

"I should knock her out again." Tsunade stated rather bluntly, getting Anko to pause and look at her with an incredulous expression on her face. Her comment also got Kurenai to look at her once more, but the latter didn't seem to be opposed to the idea.

Clearing her throat, Tsunade moved a hand down to the mask on Anko's face, her fingers wrapping around the jaw section of the mask.

"Alright Anko, we are going to explain to you - peacefully, I feel the need to add - what happened in the last few days that you missed out on, and I will strap you back up if you get too wild, understand?" She directed as an order at Anko, who grunted once more and nodded to the best of her current abilities. Tsunade released a small burst of chakra out from her hand and out to the mask before retracting her hand and turning to look at Yugana. The older woman motioned for her to speak and explain things, which she did soon after.

Yugana had Naruto sitting on her lap, the little boy looking at his mother with signs of concern and curiosity. She picked up her nephew and moved the chair they sat on closer over to Anko before sitting back down.

"Anko." She started. "I can't explain everything in detail right now, but I'm from another world. In my world, I am your sister, your twin sister actually, and... Our Sensei is still a good man to the village. I thought that you were posing as my sister, which is why I attacked you a few days ago. I don't know why I assumed that, or if anyone told me that, but that's what happened. Naruto was kind enough to offer to let me into the clan, and Sarutobi-sama has agreed to get people to help me integrate into this world."

It took Anko several minutes of silent pondering to finally accept the answer that the imposter had given her. Her head turned as far as she could get it to look at Tsunade, and cleared her throat to get her attention. "Tsunade, take this mask off." She stated, rather than asking, her voice muffled. After the older woman gave her an intense glare, the snake mistress sighed. "Please." She added, hoping that she could get out of the ridiculous suit.

Tsunade shook her head and moved her hand away from the mask. "I'm sorry Anko, but until you prove that you aren't going to pounce on her like a maniac, I can't let you out of this getup."

Anko groaned and feigned agony. It obviously didn't work, so she calmed down some and tried a different approach. "Fine? Fine. I guess we're having some _bacon_ tomorrow..."

Tsunade quickly grew uncomfortable for Shizune and Tonton's sakes. With another sigh, she began to take the mask off of Anko's face. "Fine, but one wrong move and you're back with the mask on. I don't even see why you need it off since you can speak just fine with it on."

"I'm just asking some questions, and this thing is a little uncomfortable." She looked around at her friends and family and landed her gaze on Yugana. "I won't attack you. As I said, just a few questions."

Yugana met Anko's gaze and returned it with equal seriousness. Naruto still sat on her lap, but moved a little since he could feel the tension between the two women. "Okay, but I don't think it'll help much."

And so, question after question, Anko became more acquainted with the woman who had apparently come from another world. As expected, she had formed a connection with her. They were both so very much the same, but also very different from one another. As the day went on, they shared stories with each other about their respective worlds and people, and Anko was eventually able to get out of the straight jacket and have a good meal.

Like Hiruzen had promised, several people had come to the Uzumaki clan compound to help Yugana get used to the new world that she was in. Little did they know beforehand, all of the people sent to help her and the clan were the clan heads and heirs of Konoha. This brought the clans closer together, and made the Uzumaki compound a meeting place of sorts for all of the other clans to come and socialize with one another in an informal setting.

Yugana was regarded as a rather special Shinobi, with her records being accessible only by the Hokage himself under punishment of death by painful public execution. She was the first ever 'Phantom-Nin', holding almost zero records and technically not existing. She was sent on rather dangerous missions with rather high pay, and got through almost all of them unscathed.

It was another morning at the Uzuamki compound, and was just as lively as ever. Ibiki had grown tired of regulating his interrogations, and had exhausted all of the prisoners that he had available. Kurenai had just come back from an exceptionally difficult mission a few days before with Anko and Tsume. Even though she trusted Hana to look after Kiba, Tsume did not trust the fifteen year old girl to look after the little ball of energy for an entire week, and had Kiba stay with the Uzumaki clan with Tsunade, Shizune, and Ibiki watching the kids. That boy was too much for the best Inuzuka caretakers to handle on their own, but not for Tsunade.

"Get back here!" A young boy yelled as he raced through the halls of the compound.

"I'll think about it!" Another called back as he ran in front of the previously mentioned boy. His tone was cocky and sarcastic, and was growing to become more so every passing day.

The boy in the back growled and made even more of an effort to go faster. "You better hope that I catch you, because you know what Sasuke's going to do if he gets you first!"

"That's if he can catch me." His tone was as boisterous as ever. Naruto turned his head to look back at his wolf-like friend who insisted on catching him, and stuck his tongue out as he purposefully tripped and skidded down the hallway.

Kiba saw that moment to pounce forward and catch Naruto. The blonde boy was excellent at ninja tag, one of the best in Konoha, but Kiba was going to try and prove that he was better.

Naruto slid across the hallway and hit one of the walls. Just as he made contact with it, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, causing Kiba to hit the wall where Naruto was supposed to have been.

Soon after he had come to an abrupt stop, a small little puppy raced down the same corridor and jumped onto Kiba's head, yipping and sniffing the air before placing his paws on its nose.

Kiba growled in anger once more and hit the ground with a little bit of force. "Naruto!" He shouted his friend's name out to the heavens before making his way to his feet and sulking out of the compound. "Man, Sasuke's going to get him again..."

Meanwhile, Naruto smirked as the memories of Kiba's chase came to him. While he didn't know the specifics of how Kiba reacted to finding out he was chasing a clone, the blonde boy was able to hear his friend shout in rage. He wanted to laugh at his friend's expense, but was unable to because of his current location. He had been warned time and time again not to hide where he was currently, but it was a high risk, high reward area.

Suddenly, Naruto winced and doubled over in pain. It was one of the side effects of having the shadow clones. The memory and phantom feeling of pain always came before the memories themselves did, so he always experienced the pain twice. From what he had seen from his clone, Sasuke had almost captured him, and kicked one of his legs in to get him down. It was a brutal and punishing tactic, but Naruto knew Sasuke wouldn't do that unless he knew that it was a clone, and that Naruto wouldn't actually have a broken leg because of it.

Sasuke was close to Naruto's location however. He was in the same hallway, and was only a few doors down from where his target was hiding.

He had to get out. If Sasuke found him, Anko would surely beat the both of them with her Uzumaki strength for being in her room. She was especially tired after that last mission with Kurenai and Tsume, and would certainly be in a bad mood if woken up. Naruto moved out of the room as quickly and quietly as possible. As soon as Naruto escaped the room, he took a mad dash for the end of the hallway. Unfortunately, Sasuke heard him sprinting down the hall, and chased after him.

The two ran all throughout the house, eventually escaping the compound and heading into the village.

Naruto began to push large amounts of chakra out, covering his body in a blue aura. He moved faster, his legs pushing him further and faster, he loved this technique that he, his mother, his godmother, his aunt, and his first godmother had worked together to develop. The boy looked over his shoulder and smirked at Sasuke. "You're too slow!" He chimed, getting his friend to grunt in frustration.

"You're too fast!" Sasuke yelled in frustrated reply to his friend's taunting. "Slow down a little so you don't crash into someone!" He knew that Naruto had problems with controlling this technique at times, but Sasuke really was worried that all of that chakra would make him a bomb if he were to run into a building or a person.

As much as Naruto didn't want to admit it, Sasuke was right. If he wasn't careful, he could easily level a good part of the village just by accident. Deciding to take the chase elsewhere, Naruto began to lead Sasuke to the forest of death, an area he was well acquainted with thanks to his mother and aunt, much to his two godmother's dismay.

Sasuke chased Naruto into the forest of death, both of them ignoring the warning signs and large fence surrounding the area. The raven haired boy was starting to get tired, but he pushed on in hopes of tagging Naruto. It was a goal he was always so close to, and was only able to capture him a handful of times.

The two of them ran for another ten minutes through the forest before they both started to get tired. They both still moved onward, finally stopping as Naruto was faced with a large tree.

Naruto turned around and watched as Sasuke appeared before him. They were equally matched in several areas, persistence being one of them.

"Give it up Naruto, you can't keep going." Sasuke panted, slowly moving closer to Naruto.

Naruto smirked and moved as far back as he could until he hit the tree. "Yeah I can! I'm stopping for your sake." He replied confidently.

"I'll get you!" Sasuke yelled, lunging at Naruto. He stopped as he heard an animal roar just near the two of them. Both of them turned to look at the animal that made its presence known, and identified it as a panther.

Slowly, the panther stalked over in front of Naruto, as if defending him from Sasuke. It crouched low and began to growl, causing Sasuke to take a cautionary step back.

Naruto was confused, but said nothing and watched as the panther stood still. Eventually, Sasuke let his guard down and took several more steps back.

Once the boy was far enough away, the panther turned around and looked up at Naruto. Naruto knelt down in front of the cat and slowly moved a hand in front of its face. The panther pushed its head into Naruto's hand and allowed itself to be petted. Naruto quickly understood what was happening, and began to pet it some more, which caused it to purr and lick his hand slowly.

It didn't take long for Naruto to remember his mother telling him something about a panther from almost two years before when she had used too many poisons on him for his immunity training. It was possible that it was the same panther, and since he had never seen any other panthers in the forest before, it was the only conclusion that he was able to draw on.

Sasuke watched as Naruto petted and played with the panther, anslowly began to approach the two again. "Naruto, is this your panther?" He asked, looking at the black furred animal with slight awe.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke and let up on his petting, getting the panther to turn around once more. "I don't know, but it likes me!"

"Well we should probably get going before that thing eats us or something." Sasuke stated warily before starting to walk away. The large and clearly dangerous panther was unnerving him more and more, and he didn't want to be around when that thing decided to snap.

"I win!" Naruto cheered, surprising the panther. Quickly, he looked at the large cat and petted it once more. "I gotta go, I'll see you later!" He told it before walking away with Sasuke.

The two walked slowly and calmly out of the forest of death and back into the village, entirely unaware that they had a follower with them.

When they got back to the compound, Naruto opened the door for him and Sasuke to walk through, but was caught off guard when Sasuke yelled in surprise from hearing a familiar roar.

Sasuke had closed the door just as the panther was walking through the doorway, and accidentally hit the panther in the side with the door.

"That thing followed us!" Sasuke hollered, taking several quick steps into the house to avoid the panther that was trying to get free from the door and doorway.

Naruto looked at the creature carefully and knelt down again, only for it to approach him and attempt to get him to pet it again.

The panther roared once more, this time in obvious pain, before hiding behind Naruto. It was all too quick for Naruto to process, and he was forced to look around to see what had happened.

Hana now stood in the doorway berating one of her dogs. "Bad! Bad Ichimaru!" She scolded the front most dog, getting it to whimper and put its head down in shame.

Sighing, she stood up fully and looked at the panther and Naruto. "I'm sorry about him biting your... cat..." She leered at the feline carefully and glanced back at Naruto. "Cats and dogs don't get along very well, you know."

"Uh, but it's not mine..." Naruto told her unsurely, getting the other teen to look at him in surprise.

"Really? From what I'm seeing right now, it looks like she likes you." She told him in response, kneeling down to Naruto and looking at the panther. "Are you sure she isn't yours?"

Naruto nodded and petted the panther. "Yeah..." He drifted back as he remembered the poisons. "Hey, didn't Kaa-san say something about a cat or something a while ago?"

Hana hummed in thought, remembering everything and anything she could about a panther. The memory came back to her as she remembered a panther picking Naruto up to carry him away. "Yeah, you're right. She might be the same one for all we know. That seems to be the best possibility here as well.

"Wait a minute, She?" Naruto asked, unsure how Hana was able to come to that conclusion.

Hana nodded back to him. "Yeah, she." She told him, smiling and waving a finger knowingly. "I work with animals, remember?"

"Oh yeah..." Naruto sighed and looked back at the panther, which had lay down to relax while Naruto was talking with Hana.

Hana looked back at the panther, inspecting it as close as she was able to without it being too aggressive towards her. She hummed lightly and watched as it slinked around Naruto in a defensive manner.

"Huh." Hana spoke. "That's a little odd..."

Naruto's brow rose in curiosity, "What's odd?" he asked her, the panther turning its head towards Naruto.

Hana attempted to move towards Naruto and the panther, the latter of the two growling lowly as she got closer. As she moved away, the panther stopped growling and nuzzled itself into Naruto's side.

"Your panther friend here seems to be pretty close to you. Almost like a bond." She told him, getting both Naruto and Sasuke to look at her with curiosity.

"Bond?" They said in unison, causing Hana to chuckle at their cute reactions.

"Yeah, a bond." She knelt down and pet two of her dogs, smiling at them and looking at them as they yipped in joy. "Inuzuka dogs bond to a clan member soon after they're born. They were a bit of a special case, being triplets and all, but I took up the responsibility to raise them all!" She laughed quietly as she gave the third of the trio some much needed attention. "Since your panther obviously isn't a canine of any sort, it isn't the exact same, even more so since she's a fully grown panther."

"What do you mean?" Naruto began to pet the panther as he listened to Hana's explanation, unaware that his actions were causing the cat to calm down.

"Some of the signs are there, I've seen them. They usually stay close to whomever they choose to bond with, and are pretty protective of them." Hana paused and examined the panther once more. She hummed to herself and sighed as the returned her gaze to Naruto. "Again, it's a little odd given how different this is, so it might not be a full bond, or even one at all. I'm not really sure what to say, so we should probably go and tell Kaa-san. She'll know what to do."

"You're going to the Inuzuka compound?" Sasuke spoke up, getting the blond boy and the teen to look at him. "Can I come with you guys?"

Hana shook her head and gave Sasuke a sad look. "Sorry, but this is pretty serious business, and since she decided to bond with Naruto, it's really best if only him and other Inuzuka are around. Maybe next time Sasuke."

Sasuke sighed and proceeded to walk to the door. "Can't win them all I guess." He said to himself. "I'll see you later Naruto, tell me what happens when you get back!" He ran out the door and made his way back to his house, hopeful that his brother would have some time on his hands to train him a little.

With Sasuke now gone, Hana stood back up and whistled. Her dogs rose to attention and looked up at the Inuzuka heiress. "Let's go boys." She told the trio, all of which yipped and walked out the door, followed by Hana herself. Turning around, Hana motioned for Naruto to follow.

Naruto walked out with his new panther, which walked closely next to him and constantly looked around at the passing people in the short distance there was between his house and Hana's.

Suddenly, Naruto stopped and looked back in the direction of his house. "Shouldn't I tell someone I'm leaving for a while?"

Hana stopped along with their dogs and turned around to look at the boy that she was trying to help. "I'm sure that you'll be fine, Naruto. You're just going to be at the Inuzuka compound just next door, and your mom is good friends with my mom. Nothing to worry about!"

"Well, if you say so..." Naruto sighed and resumed walking with Hana.

Soon after, the duo and their respective animal companions arrived at the Inuzuka compound. Hana made sure to tell Naruto to be careful with his panther, so they had moved straight to the main building in hopes of not attracting attention.

Hana had instructed Naruto to stay with the triplets and his panther while she went to find her mother. It didn't take long to find her in her office, and the heiress quickly explained the odd situation.

"Well. This really is strange." Tsume scratched the back of her head. There had been a few stories here and there about 'wild children', and those who were raised by wild animals, but it was an odd case for specifically one panther to decide to protect a human child. "I guess we just have to wait it out and see what happens."

Hana looked at her mother with confusion. "Wait it out?" She asked her. "What do you mean by that? Can't we just put them through natural bonding to see if this partnership is real or not?"

"Absolutely not." Tsume replied quickly, shaking her head. "Honorary clansmen or not, this is just too different to put them through natural bonding. Not to mention that it's used **only** for Inuzuka clan members to bond with their pups. He isn't a full member, she's a panther, she's a fully grown panther, and what happens if natural bonding doesn't work, or worse, goes wrong?" She put on a more serious tone, causing Hana to look down at the ground and think, "We'll just have to find another way to see if this is serious or not. Shouldn't be too hard."

Hana knew her mother was right, and made the decision to say nothing as she followed her mother to the main room of the house.

Hana and Tsume were introduced to a rather strange sight as they entered the living room. The large and once ferocious panther was laying of its side, its paws matching the movements of Naruto's hands as it played with him, much like a kitten would. Neither of them had any words for what was displayed before them, and only broke the silence a minute later.

"Well... That was certainly something..." Tsume mumbled to herself, just loud enough for the others in the room to hear.

Naruto stopped playing with the panther and looked at Tsume, the aforementioned animal stopping and mimicking Naruto to look at the clan head as well.

Hana was surprised to see it copying Naruto's movements, but that only supported her theory of a bond even more so. "Seems like they're bonded, Kaa-san." Hana chirped.

Tsume hummed in thought, her eyes focused on the animal that looked back at her with a similar intense look. It was all so strange for a panther of all things to decide to protect Naruto.

"Naruto." Tsume spoke, getting the boy to look at her. "Go and stand up against that wall there." She pointed at a nearby wall a good distance away from the panther.

Naruto did what he was instructed to do and stood up against the wall. "What are we doing?" He asked her, his tone being as curious as ever.

Tsume didn't speak. Her hand moved to her side and in an instant, she pulled out a kunai and launched it at Naruto.

The panther's head perked up, the large beast lunging at Naruto and catching the blade while it was still in the air with its jaws.

Once it reached the ground, it crouched low, growling at Tsume and narrowing its eyes at her.

Naruto was frozen with fear. The kunai was only inches away from his face before the panther had caught it. It seemed to be too much a distance for it to travel in such a short amount of time, but obviously not due to the most recent event.

"I see." Tsume murmured to herself, seemingly unaware of the glare that her daughter shot at her.

"What was that!?" Hana asked incredulously. "You could have killed him!"

The clan head shook her head. "It wouldn't have hit him. I aimed close to his head, but not **at** it. He was fine all along."

Tsume walked over to Naruto carefully. She had stirred up the panther with her earlier action, but she needed to reassure Naruto that everything was okay. Her steps were slow, careful, and deliberate, trying not to disturb the animal any further then she already had.

Once she got close enough, Tsume rested her hand on top of Naruto's head and ruffled his blonde locks. This got the panther to growl, but Tsume was unphazed.

"Sorry kid." She said to him. "But I had a few thoughts to test, and your new friend here just proved them."

"Thoughts?" Hana spoke up, looking at her mother quizzically. "What kind of thoughts?"

"This panther was conditioned." She told her daughter rather bluntly.

"Oh." Was all the others could say.

"Conditioned?" Naruto chipped in, as curious as Hana was. "What's that mean?"

Tsume smiled and ruffled his hair once again before pacing around the room. "This panther had the speed of a ninja and the reflexes of one to boot. She's much more responsive to Naruto than an animal would be during the second meeting. She's going to have to stay here so we can see what's up with her."

"But how can you make a panther a ninja?" Naruto replied, his eyes wandering towards his feline friend. "Don't they need that chakra stuff, and I don't think she wants to leave me."

Tsume paused. That was a very good question, and it came with a good answer. "Well, for the chakra bit, it's a little odd. Animals all have their own chakra pathway systems... per se. Just like humans, not all animals have a usable amount of chakra. Some animals might not be smart enough to learn how to correctly mold chakra, and the whole thing is pretty iffy if you ask me. Anyways, chakra in panthers is pretty unexplored as far as I know, so I can only tell you that this cat learned through lots of training and watching. Probably because it was in the forest of death."

The older woman sighed, wanting to find a better way to explain this to the almost eight year old boy. "Maybe I should get Guy to explain this better. His crazy ass would understand."

Hana's eyes widened at the mention of the crazed ninja. "Guy!?" She asked in shock. "Kaa-san, that's a really bad idea. You know how impressionable Naruto is."

"Bah!" Tsume pushed her hand though the air. "He'll be fine." She had little more to say on the subject, and proceeded to push Naruto out of the door. "Bye Naruto, we'll take care of your panther for you while we check it out. Check back regularly!"

As soon as Naruto left the compound, Tsume quickly shut the door and leaned against it, her body sliding down to the floor. "God dammit this is a bad idea," she said to herself.

Naruto was well on his way back to his home when it all happened. While he did conform to Tsume's orders, he still felt bad knowing that he had left the panther that was protecting him with what it probably believed to be total strangers that loved and harbored dogs.

He was curious about the conditioning. He assumed it was like training, from what Tsume had told him, but the word sounded strange, ominous in a way. If it had been a conditioned panther meant to guard or care for Naruto, who could have trained it to be so talented?

All of his thoughts stopped as he felt a single, hot breath on his neck. On instinct, he bolted away as fast as his legs could carry him, despite knowing that the chase was futile.

He could only get a few yards ahead before he was tackled down to the ground and pinned, a kunai digging into his throat just barely.

"Where have you been all day?" A sweet voice asked him just into his ear. It was one he was all too familiar with, and he knew that he was in trouble.

"Me and Kiba and Sasuke were playing tag, and Sasuke chased me into the forest of death..." He quickly submitted to his mother's tactics, gulping and moving his eyes back to look at her. Quickly, his eyes shifted to her hand, which seemed to have lessened its grip on the kunai at his neck.

An idea came to Naruto as he thought of a way to get out of the grasp of his seemingly frozen mother, but all of that was shut down when she tightened her grip on him as soon as he made the slightest of movements.

"You were where?!" She asked him rhetorically.

He said nothing to her, too afraid to utter even the simplest of phrases.

Sighing, Anko got off of her son and helped him to his feet. However, her hand did not let his go. Her hand roughly pulled Naruto back into the direction of the compound, dragging him behind her.

She had never explicitly told him not to venture into the forest. It was just a place that he had not been too much since the immunity accident, and she assumed that it was best if they stayed away from there until he was more experienced as a ninja. None of the other parental figures in his life ever capitalized on it either, and it was a gray area in their teachings.

Naruto had told Anko what had happened during the day, with her being a little on edge about the entire panther situation. She'd have to talk to Tsume on her own time.

Once they reached the compound, Anko finally let her son's hand go. She wasn't really mad at him, but just worried about the situation at hand and to come.

Anko opened the door to the compound, and motioned Naruto forward. She'd have to get some money circulating around so she could hire a workforce of talented and 'good looking' shinobi to guard and take care of the house as well as the people in it. A little eye candy for when she would be off after an abnormally tough mission or series of missions, maybe one of two of them could massage her and relax her muscles as well. She could picture it all now.

"Anko? Anko? What are you doing Anko?" The snake mistress could hear a voice calling out to her as she fantasized. The louder and more aggressive the voice became, the closer she got to snapping out of her trance.

Anko quickly glanced around and looked at the woman that was practically yelling at her.

"Anko!" Tsunade roared, looking at the younger woman as she continued to hold the door open. Tsunade had watched her hold the door open for a solid fifteen minutes before deciding to act.

"What? I wasn't daydreaming about hot, muscular, guys, doing all the work around the house!" Anko fired off far too quickly before moving away from the door and power walking out of the room.

The red tint on her face told Tsunade all she needed to know, and decided to leave it at that. Only a sigh could escape her lips as she retreated to talk to her godson.

"And you." Tsunade leered at her godson. "Where have you been? Last thing I remember, you, Sasuke, and Kiba were sitting around the main room of the compound." Earlier in the day, Tsunade had left with Shizune to take a rather short shift at the hospital, leaving the three boys to their own devices in the compound. When she had gotten back, none of them were anywhere to be seen.

While Tsunade seemed scary to Naruto now, she was nowhere near as angry she could be on an annoyed day. Her current state of rage sprouted from her worry over Naruto's wellbeing, which could also become much worse given the correct circumstances.

Naruto looked down at the ground and weighed all the available options. All of them led to him eventually cracking and telling her what he was actually doing.

"Well..." He began to trail off, looking up at his godmother with a weak smile as he scratched the back of his head. "We were playing ninja tag, and I may have chased Sasuke into the forest of death..."

Tsunade almost popped a vein at what she had just heard. She already didn't like the forest of death as it was the place where Anko had lost Naruto and almost got him kidnapped by an animal, but she also had to reprimand herself for not telling Naruto to stay away from there. She simply assumed that he would keep away for his own safety.

Then again, Naruto and safety never mixed all that well anyway.

The Senju Clan Head sighed and hung her head, ready to reply. Before she was able to speak, Yugana walked in and looked at the odd-pair.

"Anyone know why Anko is blushing so much?" She asked out of the blue, getting Tsunade and Naruto to move their attention to her. "She's a little meaner than the Anko I know, but still."

Tsunade could only shake her head and give Yugana a look. "Male servants..." Was all she could mutter without getting Naruto too curious about it.

Smiling, Yugana nodded and spun on her heel before walking away. The tough-as-nails Anko that this world had, now had something that Yugana could use for some serious teasing. She knew that if Naruto wasn't around, then Tsunade would surely talk about it more.

With Yugana gone, Tsunade looked back at Naruto and poked his nose like a button. "So, what happened at the forest of death, brat?" She spoke in a lighthearted manner, letting Naruto know to not think about the term too much.

"Wait... No, I wasn't chasing Sasuke..." Naruto muttered to himself. "He was chasing me..."

The boy pointed a finger into the air. "That's right!" He exclaimed. "I used shadow clones to get away from Kiba, and I almost got away from Sasuke. I ran into the forest, and just before he could tag me, this big panther thing came out and protected me!"

"WHAT!?" She yelled loud enough for the other hidden villages to hear her, so to speak. "Naruto!"

"Don't worry, don't worry." Naruto did his best to stand against his 'scary godmother', as he sometimes called her when she wasn't within hearing range. "I'm okay, and the panther is at the Inuzuka compound. Tsume-san said it was…conditioned, or something...It was a ninja panther I guess."

Tsunade became quiet. She'd have to give Anko a stern talking to when it was just the two of them.

She cracked her knuckles one by one, making it a point to Naruto that they were going to continue with her training.

It was only a few weeks before he and many of the other clan heirs started their first year at the academy, and Anko and Tsunade agreed that they should be pushing Naruto's training a bit more. Of course, the others in the clan would help with the boy's training as well, but the main focus was between the two of them, with Yugana adding a bit here and there.

"Time for strength training, brat." She announced with a smirk.

Her history of extensive and painful lessons caused Naruto to groan. There were days where he could hardly move without aching all over and letting out constant groans of agony, but he wasn't in a position to argue as he would soon be able to move mountains with a well-placed punch. Despite this, he did not look forward to losing the ability to lift his arms for the next few days without help from another.

Back at the Inuzuka compound, Tsume and Hana continued the full checkup on the panther that Naruto had brought in.

Tsume couldn't believe that she continued the project without her knowledge. The matriarch was inwardly seething with anger. It was borderline madness, especially without the Inuzuka knowledge of animal care. But then again, borderline madness was right up her alleyway.

She was going to have a** long** talk with Anko later.

**Omake: The Fan War Continues**

With a more than a year passing by for the two rival fanbases, many things had been debated and discussed. As it had been Ino and Inago leading the Naruto fan club, and Sakura leading the Sasuke fan club. They had found a way to argue about everything involving the boys of their affections, with Inago eventually having to break apart the pinkette and the platinum blond before the fights became too much.

"Naruto's mother is a total badass, Sakura!" Ino bellowed. "She's an inspiration of what Kunoichi can accomplish if they put enough effort into being one."

Sakura huffed and looked to the side. "My mother says that she dresses like one of those 'Ladies of the Night', and I agree with he-" She would have continued speaking if not for Inago, who had stepped forward and continued her effort to be more outward towards people.

"Anko-san dresses the way she does in order to lower the guard of her enemies." She stated, looking at the pink haired girl from behind her round glasses. "She uses what Kami gifted to her to her advantage."

The other two girls looked at the Aburame incredulously. She could only look back at them with a look of confusion.

"What?" She stated as monotonously as usual.

Ino shook her head, but continued to stare at Inago. "How do you know that for a fact? I know you wouldn't have said it if you didn't absolutely know for sure that it was."

Inago was quiet for what seemed to be an eternity, her face tilted down and covered by the high collar on her jacket. If looked at by someone taller, they could have seen that she was blushing mildly. "I...I h-h-h-have my...sources..." She muttered quietly, backing away and shuffling out of the room as quickly as she could.

The two others, as well as all of the other girls in the room, could only watch as the shy girl shuffled away.

Meanwhile, at the Uzumaki compound, several bugs began to retreat from their hidden positions in one of the bedrooms next to the master bedroom.

**Omake: Dirty Old Men**

In the Land of Rice, an older man flew through the air while screeching in pain. He had just been kicked out of a tavern, literally so by a kick to the groin from the owner of the tavern. Who just happened to be a young woman.

"NOW STAY OUT YOU DIRTY OLD MAN!" She yelled to the heavens, her face etched with a seemingly permanent look of blind rage. "I'M NOT ONE MY GIRLS WHO YOU CAN PAY FOR A NIGHT WITH, AND I'M NOT LYING ABOUT MY AGE!" She chased him about, getting attention from several men and woman throughout the town. Many of them joined the chase after the white haired man, after him for trying to get with the lovely women of their town.

The man ran as quickly as he could, given that he had not been training and keeping his athleticism up lately, he was unable to outrun them by much.

He looked back at them and continued to sweat. "Can't we just talk about this like Adults?" He asked shakily. "I was just trying to do some research!"

"SCREW YOUR RESEARCH YOU DIRTY OLD PERVERT!" The woman continued to yell. "STAY OUT AND I'LL CONSIDER NOT GOING TO THE GUARDS TO LOCK YOU UP FOR HARASSMENT!" She lunged at him with all the power she could muster. Fortunately, she was able to latch onto him and bring him down to the ground long enough force for a few of the men in the mob to grab a hold of him and drag him off into an alley way.

Once the men had grabbed the apparently legendary ninja, the woman got off of him and let them do their work. "Make it hurt..." She muttered just loud enough to be heard by the ones holding the old man. Clearing her hands of the dust, she watched and listened in as he still attempted to plead mercy. "We don't want to be a part of your damn books, you pervert. We make our own smut, and its non-fiction."

**Hello everybody, and welcome back to another chapter of Raising a fox! It's been a while, I know, but we are still working on the story! I don't really have much to say at the moment, but just hang tight, things are going to start moving again!**

**As always, be sure to Review and tell us your thoughts about the chapter! We love reading your thoughts and ideas, and even get some ideas for scenes from you guys!**

**Until next time!**


	14. The Jutsu

Several young children all sat and stood around inside a classroom. The room was as loud as it could be, with just about all of the children talking to one another.

It had only been a matter of minutes, but many of the students had already created their own little groups.

Naruto sat with Sasuke and Kiba, as that trio was near inseparable. The next generation of the InoShikaCho trio was the same way, despite Shikamaru Nara not getting along so well with Ino Yamanaka.

Two figures in high-collared, grey coats sat next to each other and conversed quietly. Inago and Shino Aburame were comfortable around each other, and spoke much more to each other than to other people.

Sakura Haruno had her own group, consisting mainly of other civilians who wished to be ninja, and spoke reverently about Sasuke, almost to the point where it was like they were equating him with the son of Kami himself.

In the back, the heiress to the Hyuuga clan sat by herself, her pale lavender eyes set on a young blond boy who talked and joked with his two friends. Oh how she wished that she had the strength and courage to go up to him and talk to him. Her clan was on good terms with what was left of his, and despite this, she could think of no way to even approach him.

Despite all of the talking, their teacher had been sitting at his desk in the front of the class for the last twenty minutes. He had waited to see if they would notice him and stop talking, but it seemed like it wasn't going to be that kind of class.

"Alright everybody," He stated in a voice just loud enough to be heard by the class.

Nobody even looked in his direction.

"Everyone..." He warned them

Still...nothing.

"HEY EVERYONE! SHUT UP SO I CAN TEACH YOU ALL!" He hollered at them all, quickly getting the class to quiet down and get back into their seats.

Meanwhile, the teacher's assistant smirked upon seeing the teacher so agitated so soon into the class. His green eyes locked onto his elder. "They're just kids, and it's their first year. Ease up a little now and gradually get tougher on them. They aren't ninja yet."

"Quiet Mizuki." The teacher spoke to his assistant. "They need to understand that I'm teaching soon-to-be ninja, not children."

Mizuki simply sighed and shook his head as he looked down at the ground. "I wish I opted for trash cleaning in the Red Light district instead of this nonsense..."

"Now that I have your attention," The teacher stated to the class. "I am Kabe Renga, you will all call me Kabe-san. Is that understood?" He spoke to them in an authoritative voice, commanding respect and loyalty rather than asking for it.

The man known as Renga Kabe was seen to be quite tall, even as he sat in his chair at the front of the room. He had close cut brown hair and the standard Konoha jonin attire. He watched all of his students with brown eyes as cold and piercing as they could get.

Kiba snickered to himself at the hilarity of their sensei's name. He was unable to hold his laughter to himself, and earned himself a high velocity book to the face.

"I am your teacher, damn it! I would appreciate respect!" He called out Kiba, who fell down to the ground after being hit by a book. He was well aware that they were children, and he wasn't supposed to be yelling at them as if they were genin or chunin. He was trying not to become a total task master, but he needed to show them all how he could be on a bad day.

Clearing his throat, Renga scanned the room and looked over his class. "Now that I have introduced myself, it's time for the rest of you to introduce yourselves."

A single hand shot out at the speed of sound and pointed towards the Inuzuka boy.

"YOU!" Renga shouted. "You, the furry one. State your name, as well as anything that you'd like to have the rest of the class know. Just keep it short."

Kiba only blinked as he stared rather doe-eyed at his teacher. He heard what he said, but didn't fully process it until a moment later when the effect of the man shouting began to wear off.

Kiba then stood up and looked at the class. He knew some of them because of his relation to the clan matriarch and heir, while others were a complete mystery to him. Smiling widely, he spoke. "My name is Kiba Inuzuka of the Inuzuka clan!" He announced to them all. "I really like dogs, especially my little buddy Akamaru, and I really hate it when Naruto uses his stupid clone guys in ninja tag!"

All of the children sat and listened to the wild child, taking in what he said and using him as an example for what they would say.

"In the future, I want to do dangerous missions with really cool people!" He smiled to himself and sat back down as the rest of the class clapped in appreciation for what he just said.

Renga looked around the class once more and continued to pick people out, all of them speaking using a similar format to what Kiba was using.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I like to train with my brother, spar with my friends Naruto and Kiba, and take walks around Konoha. I can't stand natto, I just find it disgusting. In the future, I...I don't know yet, but I know that I want to be a good ninja for Konoha."

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I like Ramen, training, my mother and aunt, as well as my family, and beating my friends at ninja tag! I don't like the three minute cooling wait for instant ramen... My dream is to become hokage...or at least a really bad ass ninja like my mother and aunt!"

"I am...Aburame Inago...I enjoy tending to the bugs in the clan, a small bowl of miso ramen occasionally, my friend Ino, and...I do not like Sakura. My wish for the future is to...Na..."

Inago and Hinata competed to be the reddest, most stuttering messes in the class that day.

All of the other children in the class followed Kiba's example, and soon enough, the time for introductions came to an end. Renga and Mizuki got to know a little bit more about the kids that they would be teaching. The two of them would be teaching the same class for the next four years, and in that time, all of them would surely grow.

As the class went on, Mizuki stole glances at the Uzumaki boy, looking at him with cold eyes and picturing himself putting the boy in his place. _"I already have a psychopath of a teacher to work with, as well as a bunch of brats too__.__, __B__ut the demon brat is the one topping this horrendous cake. Probably thinks he's so great since he fooled everyone into thinking he's a legacy child. I'll show him."_

"Man, what a drag today."

"Give them some credit, Kiba. If Naruto hadn't told Kabe-sensei that history was boring, we wouldn't have been lectured all day, and we would have actually gotten to do some ninja stuff. But I guess if he didn't do it, then it would have been you."

"You're darn right it would have been me! I wanna learn how to be a badass, not how many independent nations there are, or how many towns are in Hi no Kuni."

"See?! See?! Somebody agrees with me!"

Kiba, Sasuke, and Naruto all walked away from the academy together as they usually did. Over the last six months, the three of them had learned surprisingly little about how to survive as a ninja, but rather how to survive as a homeless person with nothing to their name.

Little did the seven and eight year old children know that those two were just about the same thing.

"Well, I've got to go home, Itachi-nii said he was going to spar with me!" Sasuke excused himself from the trio as they neared the Uchiha compound, leaving just Kiba and Naruto to talk to one another.

"Hey Naruto, want to check out your panther? It's been doing pretty well around the nin-ken. Most of them have gotten use to her being around, and aren't really defensive when she gets close." Kiba offered, looking at Naruto as he remembered how well it seemed to be doing in a compound filled with dogs.

Naruto nodded eagerly. "Sure!" He replied. "I've gotta tell someone at the compound first, though. Kaa-san might freak out again like last time...I'll meet you at your house."

Kiba nodded back at his friend and began to pet Akamaru, who sat atop of his head and watched the people around them. "Sure thing. I'll see you there."

Surely enough, Naruto arrived at the Inuzuka compound mere minutes after leaving Kiba and Akamaru, only being at his own compound just long enough to utter a simple "I'm going to Kiba's!" before making a mad dash to his friend's home.

Knocking on the door, Naruto waited impatiently for someone to answer the door. Like all of the other times he came to the compound, the barking of several dogs quickly followed after him knocking, which was sure the gain the attention of someone.

"I'm on my way!" Naruto could hear an all too familiar voice call out to him.

Soon after, the door opened to reveal Hana Inuzuka and the Haimaru triplets.

Over the last six months, Hana had been working on, caring for, and examining the panther that Naruto had left at her home. In that time, she had decided that she wanted to spend the rest of her career as a ninja-vet. It was a job similar to being a med-nin, but specializing in animals rather than people.

She had also started growing once more, now standing at just over five feet and two inches. She was about the average height for her age, but stood as the runt compared to her teammates however.

Hana wasn't the only one to have grown. The Haimaru triplets were also starting their growing phase, and were starting to become quite big.

Looking down at the boy before her, Hana smiled and moved aside. "Hey Naruto, come on in. Kiba said you'd be here to take a look at your panther."

As he entered, Naruto walked past the Inzuka heiress and into the main house of the compound. "Thanks Hana." He said in reply to her, a smile on his face as he turned to look at her.

Hana then closed the door and walked around Naruto, motioning for him to follow as she led him throughout the house and into the back where the panther was currently being held.

The heiress tapped her chin as she spun around to look at the boy. "You know, you still have to name her, Naruto." She told him. "I still can't believe that you haven't thought of a name yet."

Naruto sighed and shook his head as he approached the back room, opening it for himself and stepping inside to see his panther.

As soon as he opened the door, the aforementioned panther looked around the room to investigate the new, yet also familiar presence of Naruto. The cat instantly got up and tackled Naruto into a 'kitty hug', licking his face and purring lowly as she guarded and greeted her master.

Naruto didn't expect for the panther to have such a reaction to his presence, but the boy wasn't against it as he laughed and petted her.

He turned his head to look at a smiling Hana. "I just can't think of a name, sorry."

Hana shook her head and could only smile more. That panther was just as close to Naruto as the Haimaru triplets were to her, and it was surprising because of the short amount of time they had been together. "It's okay, Naruto. I can help you think of a name, but she has to agree to it too. She seems smart enough to help decide on her own name."

He was quite happy to see the panther in such a good condition, just as Tsume had promised him and his mother.

Both Naruto and Hana hummed in thought, the former still lying under the panther that was yet to be named.

"What about Felinus?" Naruto asked.

Hana shook her head. "No, you can't just have her species and -us at the end of it." She sighed and began to pace back and forth in the room. "Senka?" She said Naruto.

Naruto took a moment to think before shaking his head.

"Hulda?"

"Kunti?"

"Najwa?"

"What about Raz?" A new voice spoke up, getting all six heads in the room to turn towards the door.

Tsume leaned casually against the frame of the door as she looked inward. She could easily see the panther that was just as big as Naruto lying atop the boy.

She had done her best to evaluate the Panther in her time at the Inuzuka compound, and took notes to compare them to the last time she had seen the panther.

The black cat on everyone's mind was currently watching Naruto with a close eye, occasionally looking from one person to the next as she lay on the blonde boy. She began to purr and close her eyes as she felt a hand on her head. She could always let her guard down near Naruto, which was surprisingly contradictive of what Tsume, Hana, and Naruto were led to believe. When Naruto left, though, the panther returned to normal, simply sitting around and watching the people around her.

"I think she likes it." Naruto spoke up, smiling at the newly named Raz, that was currently purring and enjoying the treatment that Naruto was giving her.

Shrugging, Tsume pushed herself off of the door frame and proceeded to walk out of the room. "Well, I'll be gone for a bit." She announced to the genin and academy student. "Hana, you watch over your brother. We don't want another 'incident', now do we?"

Laughing nervously, Hana shook her head and moved towards the door to push her mother out of the room. "Of course not, we'll see you later!" She said quickly closing the door as soon as possible and leaning against it, only to sigh and slide down to the ground.

Naruto was only able to look at Hana with confusion, not knowing what 'incident they' were talking about.

As dense as Naruto could be at times, this was one of the times that he knew well that he shouldn't dig into what Hana was trying to avoid. Instead of investigating further on an incident that he wasn't around to witness, he looked to his panther.

"Raz." He said to her, getting the panther to open one of her eyes and look down at him.

He smiled at her. She seemed to respond to the name well, and it sounded cool as well. He had been told that there was a small phase throughout the entire nations where using uncommon letters such as R, Q, and Z was considered cool and hip.

"Off?" He asked her, his efforts being rewarded as she climbed off of the boy and laid her body down next to his.

Naruto sat up and looked to Hana, who smiled at the panther and boy. They were getting along well, as they always have whenever they met up. The newly named Raz would respond to most of Naruto's commands and requests, and would go against him or make an attempt to stop him when she believed that Naruto wouldn't do well with the current plan.

"Hey, Naruto." Hana spoke up, the boy already looking at her with curiosity and wonder. "Since Kaa-san is gone for a little, and I'm in charge until she gets back, I want to try something with you and Raz, okay?"

Naruto nodded and proceeded by standing up. He then walked over to her, the curious look still etched onto his face. "What are you going to try?"

Hana shook her head, humming briefly before speaking. "Wrong words, sorry, I want you and Raz to try something."

"Okay," was Naruto's simple reply.

Hana opened the door back into the hallways of the compound and motioned once again for Naruto to follow. This time, Raz went along with the two of them and the Haimaru triplets.

The Inuzuka heiress led them outside and towards the back of the compound, where an open field was that was meant for training. While it seemed people tried to keep it clean, and succeeded for the most part, it was in rough shape due to the type of training that took place there. There were small patches of dirt all over the field, with most of the nearby trees and rocks obviously shown to have taken a few beatings.

"The training grounds?" Naruto asked, looking at the teen.

Said teen nodded, whistling at a rather specific pitch and calling her dogs in front of her. "That's right. I want to see something about you and your panther. No worries if it doesn't work, though." She told him, but was hiding the fact that there would be a few concerns if it were to work.

"Now Naruto, I want you to focus on my hands and try to match the seals, okay? You guys have gone over Chakra by now, I'm sure." She was well aware that Anko and the rest of Naruto's family had been training him since before the Academy began in various basic ninja arts and a few advanced ones too, and he was most likely at a low or mid genin level by now.

Naruto nodded and put his hands together. He paused, looking over at his panther and pointing towards a spot in front of him, mirroring Hana and her dogs. "Raz!" He called out, wanting to use the name as much as possible, as well as get the Panther's attention.

Raz stalked towards the spot that Naruto pointed out, her eyes carefully watching Naruto and every little movement he made.

"Alright Naruto." Hana spoke once more, her hands joined together as well. "Match my seals, and the chakra should just flow naturally, Now!" Instantly, she began the hand seals. For the justu she was preparing, there weren't that many seals, and it should be a rather basic jutsu for Naruto. She had slowed down quite a bit for him to match them correctly, since she did not expect for him to be able to watch movement at top speeds just yet.

The blonde haired boy copied Hana's seals to the best of his abilities. He was thankful for the fact that the seals were slowed down, and was able to copy each and every one.

Meanwhile, Raz instantly became focused on the movement of Naruto's hands.

**"Fang Mirroring Fang!"** Hana called out, releasing a burst of chakra, which the Haimaru triplets almost instantly replicated.

Naruto did not call out the words to the attack, but still released a burst of chakra.

Raz roared loudly, releasing her own burst of chakra which connected and intertwined with Naruto's.

Quickly after, Naruto felt himself being compelled to get down on all fours. His instincts felt heightened, and he could sense Raz's presence and chakra.

Hana followed suit, getting down on all fours and crouching low. The triplets mirrored her movements, crouching low as well. The four of them howled in unison before moving quickly around.

Naruto was unable to handle this feeling well. He didn't feel like himself anymore. It was a strange thing for him to even attempt to explain to himself, but it was almost as if he were connected to Raz for the time being.

As if she had heard him, Raz growled and looked at Naruto, who seemed to be able to understand what he was thinking. She crawled closer to Naruto, who did the same.

Once they were only a foot away from one another, they stopped moving. The two simply looked at each other in understanding.

Apparently, they had stood like that for several minutes, as Hana was standing on two legs next to Naruto with a smile on her face.

Naruto and Raz broke the connection between one another, with the former standing back up and looking around.

"What was that?" Naruto asked in amazement.

Hana giggled and glanced at her dogs before looking back at Naruto. "That was an Inuzuka technique, just don't tell Kaa-san, okay?" She smiled knowingly and putting her hand on Naruto's shoulder. "It's to see if an Inuzuka and her ninken can truly bond with one another. Kaa-san was worried that you and Raz wouldn't be able to do it, and something would go wrong, but that went great!" Her smile only widened as she stole a glance at Raz, who was still eyeing Naruto intently. "The Fang Mirroring Fang technique is pretty much like linking your minds together. Apparently it was originally called the Bonding Fang technique, but was renamed soon after."

Naruto nodded at Hana and moved his fingers across his lips, pretending to zip them up and lock them. "I promise not to tell. It's not that cool to use another clan's techniques, even if you are allowed to." He shrugged and began to look around the weathered training grounds. "I guess it's a little more okay since you're the clan heir, but still."

Hana sighed and looked down at the ground. "I know I should have instructed you on how to use an Inuzuka technique, especially one that could go wrong if Raz wasn't meant to bond with you, but I had to take the risk. There's so much more that I know the two of you can do since you're well on your way to being fully bonded."

While the two of them continued talking, and the triplets and Raz began to walk around their masters, a figure could be seen on the far end of the training ground, watching them with mixed emotions before leaving without a trace.

After having spent the next few hours at the Inuzuka compound, Naruto started his journey back to his own home. After preforming the jutsu with Hana, he conversed with her for a little longer before going to play with Kiba.

In their conversation, Hana told him that the jutsu could have gone wrong a number of ways had Raz not been the perfect match for Naruto. The jutsu only needed to be done once to see if they could bond, and Hana was still extremely wary that an Inuzuka clansman could have walked out to the training grounds to see a non-Inuzuka person using a technique that wasn't theirs.

Naruto understood her reasoning behind keeping quiet about the situation, and swore by blood to not tell anyone at all about the jutsu they he had performed with Raz. The rest of the day was spent playing with Kiba and Akamaru.

Reaching the door to the main building of the Uzumaki compound, Naruto slowed to a stop. The boy placed his ear against the door in hopes of being able to tell if anyone was in the living room or not. It was dead silent as far as he could tell, and proceeded by entering.

The door opened gently and slowly. It was getting late in the day, and he couldn't remember if anyone was in the living room when he had said that he was going to Kiba's house earlier.

Fearing the worst, Naruto took a step inside the house, looking around carefully. Just as his foot hit the ground, a seal appeared under him.

The next thing Naruto knew was that he was hanging upside down and was dangling in the air. He could hear soft laughter coming from one of the hallways, in which Tsunade emerged with a smile on her face.

Her hazel eyes locked onto Naruto, focusing on the boy and watching as he struggled to get back down to the ground.

"Well, I was wrong. He doesn't look roughed up from training." Tsunade spoke casually back into the hallway which she revealed herself from.

Kurenai stepped out soon after and walked over to Naruto, a small book with a slip-over cover to keep the orange cover of the book hidden in her hands. "I told you he was heading to Kiba's. He even smells a little like dog." She teased him, laughing to herself as she helped untie him.

Naruto was released from the rope that kept him suspended in the air, but fell with his stomach on the ground from not being able to flip over onto his feet in time. He was inwardly relieved after hearing that Kurenai did in fact hear him before his departure to the Inuzuka compound.

Groaning, Naruto stumbled to his feet and looked between the two women before him. "Why'd you put that rope seal there?" He asked them, rather annoyed by the fact that they could have just as easily asked him where he had been all day.

Kurenai smiled more and cast a glance at Tsunade. "Tsunade was wondering where you were earlier today, and we had a mild argument about where you'd be and what you'd be doing. Not to mention that it's late and you're so lucky that your mother isn't here at the moment. We had to punish you at least a little to prove that nothing goes without consequence."

Naruto understood how his mother could be at times. While she was usually laid back and relaxed, there were a handful of times where could be just as scary as Yoshino Nara. If Anko had found him while she was in this mindset, he was sure to get punished much worse than the little slap on the wrist he had just been given.

The Genjutsu Mistress glanced down at the book in her hands and shifted her weight from one side to the other. Quickly, she hid the book away from open eyes and put it into a small pouch on her waist.

Naruto sighed and lowered his head. "Sorry I worried you guys." He said to them. He knew that Kurenai had heard him, but he was hardly in his home long enough earlier for anyone to utter even a single word to him before he bolted out the door to the Inuzuka compound.

Both women smiled at him and shared a small glance to one another.

"So, Naruto." Kurenai said to him, the boy looking up to meet her eyes. "How was the academy?"

He grunted as a response and looked down at the ground. "Kabe-sensei gave us another lecture on ninja history. We didn't do a lot of cool ninja stuff today." He scoffed and remembered that he was already pretty far ahead in his class, and could easily compete with Sasuke for top spot in class.

Kurenai gave him a look of worry. "Naruto." She warned him. "I know you have this entire clan and everything in it, but remember that you have just as much to learn as all of the other kids. You may have a little advantage over them, but you aren't above them. Okay?"

Naruto nodded and sighed a little. He was getting lost in a different world, and he needed to keep himself where he was at.

When it came to self-control, Naruto was the absolute worst person to discuss it with. He was impulsive almost always, and was led by his gut. Despite this, he had always refused to let his power and pull as a clan heir go to his head. He was lucky to get where he was now, and he was thankful for that.

"You're right." He said back to her. "I guess I just don't like being lectured all the time. I know that ninja wars were important and all, but I wanna focus on being a badass ninja and become the Hokage! Then I can protect everyone and take out the bad guys!"

Kurenai and Tsunade smiled at him. His heart was in the right place, but the sharpened steel that he was needed more temperament.

With a will like his, Naruto's dream might just become a reality.

Tsume walked through the streets of Konoha alone, contemplating the events that had taken place over the last two years. She wasn't against believing that Anko continued after she herself had left the project, but she was rather surprised to see these most recent events unfold the way that they did.

When she had left the project a little more than a year ago, it was because she feared that things wouldn't go as well as they hoped that it would. What she had just seen before her own eyes made her a little more open to the idea she once shared with Anko, but was still skeptical about the outcome.

_"It's just not going to work!"_ She remembered herself saying to Anko. _"They're too far apart from one another. If it does happen, it'll be because we both signed a piece of paper, not because they wanted it."_

Anko was silent for quite some time after that, Tsume could recall clearly. The idea they had was just too ambitious, and the two of them never talked about it until just recently.

_"Anko." She spoke in a serious tone of voice. "Would you mind telling me just what Naruto brought to my doorstep?"_

_Anko did not fear the Inuzuka matriarch, and looked at her with the same serious look that she had been given. "Training is like an elastic band. You can't just stop, or it'll hurt you. It's something that needs to be eased out of to get the best results. By the time I was done easing her out of it, it was already too late. It's ingrained." Her words came off coolly, still refusing to waiver under the gaze of Tsume. _

_Tsume grunted. "So you continued the t-" She yelled, but was cut off by the other person in the room._

_"I stopped all of the Inuzuka stuff!" She fired back. "That wasn't an issue. We didn't get far with all of that, and there isn't much she knows. I stopped with all of that as soon as you walked out the door. She can still track, and she can still hunt, but that's the furthest that her training from your clan's area has gone."_

_Tsume paused and soaked in the information. "Thank you..." She said quietly. "What have you been teaching her since I left?" She admitted her curiosity for progress._

_Anko smirked slightly and nodded to the older woman. "Speed, power, reflexes, even a little on chakra." She said to Tsume, who growled lowly just as Anko put her hands up in defense. "I know, I know. It's your territory, but we started it, and I couldn't stop in the middle of it. She can't do much with it, but she can use it. She's even strong enough now to take on the average chunin with only a little trouble."_

_The Inuzuka matriarch sighed as she placed her head in her hands. "Kami, Anko. She can do a few good tricks, but this is a dangerous game. I'm not putting any charges against you, but we both know the council will jump the shark, I.E. me, and file something against you and Naruto for using techniques too close to the Inuzuka clans. Remember they did the same thing when you got all of those justu from the Uchiha? Fugaku had to tell the civilians that they had no place in ninja affairs and that he fully authorized the transaction. This is so much touchier than that, and I think you know that." _

Tsume sighed to herself as she turned a corner. Now more than ever, the civilian council could find one way or another to place charges against Naruto and the Uzumaki clan. They had kept the entire thing under wraps, though. They were the only two who knew about the project at the time, but eventually had to let a third person from an even more powerful clan in on the secret.

_"Phah!" Anko spat with a tone of disgust. "Most of the civilians can't tell the difference between a kunai and a farming knife."_

_Tsume turned to Anko, nodding absent-mindedly._

_"Besides." She continued, her shoulders shrugging as the continued their walk throughout the streets of Konoha. "This is all ninja clan affairs. I've told you before, Tsume, they're well outside their jurisdiction if they try this crap again."_

_Tsume couldn't help but agree with that, but she also wanted to remind Anko that the civilians didn't care about how far their reach was, and would simply complain to the Hokage if they didn't get their way. _

_"We have solid ground and high fences. Even more so if you back me up on the entire thing. The Hokage will be on our side, I'm sure of that." Anko continued to speak, Tsume still being quiet and thinking deeply. _

_She was well aware of the fact that the Hokage would take their side in an argument against the civilian council, but her problem was the fact that the entire project was a secret that even he didn't know about. It would be near impossible to hold ground unless they talked about everything, and then it wouldn't be a secret anymore._

_It was supposed to just stop. She had no intention of carrying it on, and she hoped that Anko would have done the same. Despite her wishes, Anko had continued, and set them on this strange and difficult path._

_"But what if they find out?" Tsume finally spoke back. _

_Anko turned her head to look at the matriarch, but said nothing to her. She knew well of what she was talking about, and decided to let her say what was on her mind._

_"We can't just reveal little bits and pieces. It's either all of it or none of it, and what if they find out about the original plan? She wouldn't trust me anymore, and I don't want to turn my only daughter away from me." She paused, taking a small breath after letting her more concerned and motherly side show. However, she smiled ever so slightly, looking down at the ground before her. "He might have a different view on it though. He wouldn't turn his back, and he'd probably do his best to understand how she sees the situation."_

_Anko smiled as well and looked to the setting sun. "You're right about that. He's incredibly selfless, even if he doesn't really notice it. He wouldn't think about how he was put into the situation, only the others around him."_

_The two of them stood side by side for a long minute, both contemplating everything that had happened, and that could happen. _

_"The Hokage is a little soft, but involving Naruto, he can become quite the taskmaster." Anko smirked, already forming plans to lure the Civilians to do something to mess up and get booted off the council by the Hokage himself._

Tsume smiled to herself. Anko had shared hits and pieces of her master plan of ridding the civilian council of their seats, taking away their stolen power in the process. Over the years, the Civilians had often claimed that the Hokage was much too old for his work, and offered to do the work in his place. By doing this, they were able to steal several responsibilities and powers out from under him.

Needless to say, Tsume quickly sided with Anko, offering her full support in crippling and the dismantling of the civilian council. They had seen it as fair, as the aforementioned council had tried time and time again to dismantle the Shinobi council and take what political power they could.

Even before Anko had entered the scene, Tsume kept tabs on all of the civilian council members, making sure she knew which ones were threats and which ones weren't. When Anko had taken up being Naruto's mother and the mantle as clan head, Tsume had also included a page on which ones on the council needed to have a little..._accident..._every once in a while.

Her smile remained on her face as she entered the T&amp;I building. She always made a point to review things with Anko or even other members of the shinobi council before bringing them to Hiruzen himself.

"Anko?" Tsume called out. "We need to talk."

The Inuzuka matriarch walked about the building, have no problems finding her way to Anko's office.

"Anko?" She knocked on the door. "You in here?"

She waited for several minutes before hearing a reply on the other side of the door.

"What's the password?"

Tsume sighed to herself. "Dammit Anko we don't have time for thi-"

"What's the password?" She repeated, her voice gaining a more serious tone.

Tsume sighed as deeply as her lungs would allow. She knew that Anko wouldn't let her in unless she stated the password that she had created.

"'Aint no party like an Uzumaki party 'cause an Uzumaki party don't stop. UH," Was her unenthusiastic reply.

It was another seemingly long passing of time before Anko spoke again.

"Eh." Was all she replied.

"Eh?" Tsume replied, unsure of what she was getting at.

"Nah." Anko told her. "Say it again. This time with _feeling_!" The smirk worn on her face could be heard through her door.

"You're gonna be feeling something if you don't open this door!" Tsume's annoyance was quite apparent, and was replied with by Anko opening the door, grabbing Tsume, and dragging her into the dark interior of the room.

As soon as the two entered, Anko shut the door closed and directed Tsume to a chair, plopping the older woman down on it before walking away to her own seat on the other side of the desk.

The room always had a strange warmth to it, despite it always being in pitch black at worst, or dimmed lighting at best. It wasn't the warmth of a flame, Tsume was sure of that. It unnerved her. It was and indescribable type of warmth that radiated all around her.

Anko's gaze could be felt even through the strange warmth of the room, with Tsume sitting quietly in her seat.

"So?" The voice across from her spoke.

"So?" Tsume echoed incredulously. "You know why I'm here. It's going to get harder and harder to keep the truth away from people the more it goes on."

Anko was aware of the natural growth of the situation, but had not heard from Tsume about it in several days, which made her worry slightly of what was happening now.

"So what?" Anko replied. "We've handled it this long, and the growth of the situation is slow and steady, and if worse comes, we can jus-"

Tsume interrupted quickly, making it known that it was just too late for what Anko was suggesting. "They've already started it, Anko. We step in and put a stop to it now, then we lose their trust, and that partnership could take a dangerous turn without further temperament. We need to handle it differently."

The air around them began to heat up, and Tsume's vision allowed her to just be able to see Anko on the other side of the desk. It seemed as if she was in deep thought about what to do next. It was obvious that they couldn't take the route that they wanted to when handling this situation.

Several minutes passed in the darkness, neither of them able to come up with a solution, permanent or temporary.

"Pull out." Anko spoke suddenly, catching Tsume off guard with her choice of words.

Tsume replied in confusion, uttering only a simple "What?" as she did not fully understand what she meant.

Anko looked at her, Tsume once again feeling her gaze set upon her. "Pull back. Let things take their course. This is what we wanted originally, and despite trying to get away from it, it seems a little too late. We have to let them take that path without obstruction, or nudging, from us. Let them advance in peace."

She now understood Anko's new stance on the situation. It would be for the best not to interfere, but they still had to work to keep things covered up from peering eyes. She wanted to argue, at least a little, but could find nothing that would support any other stance.

"You'll have to sign it...You know that you'll have to, if we let them go through with this." Tsume spoke in resignation. It was the last thing that she wanted to have happened, but if they really were going to let their heirs go through with their plan, then they had no other choice so that they would have council immunity, and protection from others trying to seize the two heirs for their own heirs.

Anko sighed. She knew that she would have to, even though she didn't want to, and nodded slowly at her friend. "I know. But we're going to hold off on that as long as we can. I don't want to seal their fates just yet."

The weekly council meetings and poker game took place on opposite ends of the week, with Monday housing the more serious meetings, while Fridays handled the poker games.

Up until several months ago, Naruto had been dominating every game. He had won so much that it was an anonymous vote to ban him from the weekly games, as they couldn't afford to bet any more favors or items of value. Had the boy played any more games, he would have had the entire village underneath his thumb through debt alone.

As time passed, his actions when playing poker became more logic driven, and were slightly less wild than when he had first started playing. He had never lost a game in his entire career so far, but refused to let it go to his head. If he got cocky, he'd get sloppy, and the chance of losing would rise.

Despite his infamy in the games, he was well liked by the other clans, including their heads and heirs.

Sasuke and Kiba were his best friends, always at his side and getting into trouble with him. Sasuke was the rock of their friendship, and kept them from doing things that were too crazy, even for them.

For most of the other clans, earning their favor wasn't a challenge. Inago, Ino, and Hinata were infatuated with Naruto, which he was clueless about, much to Anko and Kurenai's amusement, which helped in granting their respective clan's loyalty to his own.

The Akimichi clan praised Naruto and his company for his good character and astounding ability to eat anything and everything in sight, while the Nara clan simply followed suit because all of the other clans favored him. That wasn't to say that they didn't actually respect him and care for his cause, but they were the last of the clans to swear allegiance to him. In fact, Yoshino Nara gave her clan and the internal Nara council quite the scolding after finding out that they had yet to even discuss the topic due to being so lazy.

Currently, on this rather quiet Monday morning, the council was sitting at the large table like it usually did, discussing the current events of the week and any updates from previous topics.

It had been a slow week for Konoha's council. Nothing of real interest of importance to bring to the table, until Danzo decided to open his mouth.

The old man stood up slowly, getting the eyes of the council to turn to him.

"I have information that I believe is of importance to the shinobi council, regarding clan laws and clan affairs." The war hawk spoke out.

"I have learned from a trustworthy source that clan justu have been leaking out and are being used by other clans." He stamped his cane onto the ground just as the volume of the room began to rise. "I do not know which clan is using which clan's jutsu, only that it is happening."

Those words caused the civilian side of the council to begin chattering. From most, to all, of them immediately pointed fingers at Konoha's 'whiskered prince', out of unwavering faith in what they steadfastly believed in.

Anko and Tsume grew tense, but did not allow it to be shown to the others in fear of being snooped out.

Fugaku straightened himself in his seat. He did not enjoy it when people talked about that oh so dreaded night and how he lost to a **boy** in a game he was king at before said boy started playing. At a later game, it had been decided that Fugaku would come to the Uzumaki compound to regularly update the library with any new jutsu that anyone in the clan may have stolen, much to the older man's dismay.

"Danzo-san." Fugaku spoke. "We are all well aware of the fact that the Uchiha library of jutsu has been given to the Uzumaki clan. They have full access to all of my clan's jutsu, as a part of the agreement we settled."

Danzo said nothing and returned to his seat. It was impossible to tell what the old war hawk was thinking, but the ninja had a good guess that he was not happy with what Fugaku had just told them.

The civilians grew silent as well, knowing that the shinobi clans all stood for protecting the boy who killed their precious yondaime. They all knew that Naruto was Minato's son. They had for some time now, but they still refused to believe that Naruto was not the Kyuubi hiding as a human.

The air around them all grew cold and silent. It wasn't until Hiruzen himself spoke that the volume began to return.

"Alright. With that out of the way, I do believe that this meeting is over. If there are no further concerns regarding the village, I will be seeing you all Friday," The old man told them with a smile, a small chuckle escaping his lips.

The people from both councils grumbled and rose to their feet. It would be the last game of the month, which meant that both the shinobi council and the civilian council would be participating in the poker game.

Naruto had been kept out of the end of the month games to avoid disputes with the other council, but ever since he had been banned from the shinobi only games, Hana and Anko convinced the rest of the clan heads to let Naruto play with them for the last game of each month.

Now, with a larger amount of people, the stakes were naturally raised higher to produce an even higher pay for the winner, but since Naruto started playing against the civilians, he had been unknowingly setting up a monopoly around the village. They hardly had enough money to pay him for each game, so they simply had to owe him favors and discounts at various locations. The civilians were unable to do anything about it since the votes to keep him in the games outweighed the votes to ban him, which didn't bode well for the civilian council's coffers.

Naruto would have a legendary night.

Mebuki Haruno sighed to herself. As much as she didn't like participating in the monthly poker games, it was something that had to be powered through, or she would have to face the ridicule of the other council members for a month.

The monthly game wasn't as obligatory as it was socially required.

Her feet took her in the direction of a small bar. Due the amount of people in the full council, as well as how long it would take to do a full rotation, the big poker games were always held at _The Rusty Kunai Bar and Grill._

While the location was reasonably sized, it was on the small side, but had two floors due to the fact that they only had so much ground space to work with. The bottom floor was for food and drinks. The top floor was for recreation, which was pretty much poker, darts, and other bar games.

Every once and a while, a small, expensive, and rather special case of whiskey would make its way to the bar. They only came around about three times a year, but they were amongst the best whiskey you could get. Whenever it happened to get to the shelves, it would disappear just as fast as it appeared.

The bar also often played a lot of drinking songs, some old, some new, others created in a spur of the moment. One of the favorites of many of the bars patrons, was a song called _Charlie Mops, _and it could be heard being sung no less than three times a day, every day, they even held contests sometimes where people were chosen, or volunteered, to make a drinking song from scratch based off a sentence that was chosen at random from the patrons by the bartender.

Mebuki's arm swung out in front of her, opening the door and stepping into the bar. The air was heavier inside, and the scent of various alcoholic beverages filled her nose. Saying nothing, she walked through the bar and up the steps.

She was aware of the fact that she was late, but just how much so she wasn't aware of until she saw only her seat vacant at the table.

The moment she laid eyes on the boy, her thoughts settled on every single time the young Uzumaki had won against everyone participating in the game. With the amount of favors he had, as well as the loyalty he had won through playing poker, he could easily take Konoha for himself. Maybe even the entire Land of fire if he started playing at other places around the country.

The table was organized so there would be one ninja councilman on either side of each civilian councilman, and vice versa. Naruto and Tsume were forced to sit next to one another due to the fact that there was an imbalance, and there was no civilian to sit in between them. Neither of them argued about it, and it seemed mutually beneficial for them to be placed where they were.

Now, the council poker games never followed the traditional rules. To keep everyone from going bankrupt and homeless, every person bet what they wanted to bet, and no minimum bar would be set to force people to put in more money than they wanted to. With this, they still had to put in a reasonable amount, and weren't allowed to skip out during a round.

As always, Ebisu was the dealer, and gave everyone their cards. He shot each card to its intended recipient, and soon enough, they were ready to start.

Fugaku had spent many weeks calming himself after his meltdown the first time he had played against Naruto, and was now in on the shinobi secret to why Naruto was in the big monthly games only. He agreed on the fact that they should knock a number of the civilian council members down a peg or two. But knew for a fact that not all of them deserved such torture to lose every time they faced Naruto at poker.

Kajiya Higurashi was one half of the two good civilian council members. He ran Higurashi weapons, and was the most successful blacksmith and arms dealer in Konoha. He also had an adopted daughter who was just as interested in weapons as he was, and knew that she was planning on being a ninja someday.

The other half was surprisingly Mebuki Haruno, who the Ninja council was still skeptical about. She had grown to be much less harsh than she used to be, and they had seen that it wasn't just about Naruto's position. She was a better person now, and walked away from the dirtier side of the civilian council.

The night went on like they usually did, and Naruto had somehow managed to pull a win from just about every game. The ones that Naruto didn't win were because he folded, as per the agreement to make things seem fair in the games. He still had the best hands, no matter what, but they couldn't risk disbanding the games or kicking Naruto out.

"Well, well, well, foxy." Mebuki taunted the youngest in the room. "Down to you and me, and these last few games you haven't been doing too well. What will it be this time? One of the many spots of land that you've accumulated from these games? How about a loyalty pact?"

Naruto laughed heartily. "How about I clean your house for you? The whole thing, and I'll even help you remodel!" He couldn't keep himself from laughing, and was mere degrees off from falling out of his chair.

The sandy blonde echoed his laughter, but was much softer than his. "Fine." She replied, a small smile upon the edge of her lips. "You win, and I'll..." She paused. She wasn't entirely sure what she'd wager, but it'd have to be a good incentive to keep him from backing out. "I'll be your personal assistant and secretary, for one whole year."

Everyone at the table looked at Mebuki. They must have thought that she was crazy for allowing Naruto pick out her sentence, or absolutely sure that she was going to beat him.

Even she knew that wasn't likely.

Nodding, Naruto agreed to the terms. Those were the final bets, and the two revealed her cards.

Naruto, with too much feigned surprise, won with a better hand.

Mebuki sighed. It could have been much worse, and knew that being the boy's personal assistant was the best of the horrible choices she had come up with for herself.

It could be far, far worse.

Omake: Food Fight - Anko's Nutrition Lesson

3 months after Naruto was adopted by Anko

_Anko sighed to herself, her gaze set upon the little boy that she had taken in just three months ago._

_That had been roughly ten weeks since she had signed the adoption papers, and since then she had been helping Naruto get used to a normal life without running and hiding in fear of his neighbors._

Of course, nothing with Naruto and Anko in the mix would be normal.

_Naruto groaned. It had been one of the roughest weeks that he had since his moving in with Anko, and his body wasn't in the best condition._

The boy was currently bedridden, and a tray lay next to him with only a little food left.

Naruto sat upright in the bed. His body still ached and hurt from the intense training, despite his remarkable ability to heal in an instant. It had been two days and he still couldn't get out of bed.

The door to the bedroom opened, revealing Anko in rather tame clothing. She had been trying a little to be a bit more modest around her new son, though the addition of so much fabric annoyed her.

"Hey, how 'ya doing?" She asked him. She closed the door behind her and stepped slowly towards Naruto. Her eyes moved towards the plate, which at first glance appeared to be clear of food. Her eyes flicked back to Naruto. "Looks like you ate everything."

"Uh huh." Was Naruto's mumbled reply. He knew that Anko had good eyes, and would be sure to see that not all of it was gone, but he could only hope for a break just this once.

Anko pulled out a single syringe, flicking the needle and watching as a droplet escaped.

Her son sighed, looking down and away.

The woman laughed and smiled, moving it closer to him. "Don't be like that. It won't hurt much." As she looked around once more, she saw the plate and it's abundance of a certain food type.

Everything stopped, and Naruto knew he was screwed.

Her eyes didn't leave the food, but her words were clearly directed at Naruto. "You didn't eat your vegetables."

The air grew thick and cold. Anko's glare shifting towards the boy only made him more unsettled.

In turn, he looked away from her, trying to avoid the unavoidable.

"Naruto." Was all that needed to be said.

"You eat it, I hate vegetables. It's like eating barf." He replied, looking at his mother with just the smallest amount of fear.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT VEGETABLES ARE GOOD FOR YOU, NOW EAT IT!" She yelled at him, pushing the plate into his face in an attempt to force it into him.

Naruto managed to push it away, even if only a little. "FORGET IT, I HATE WHAT I HATE, YOU KNOW I DON'T EAT THAT CRAP!"

Anko quickly put the plate down and balled her hands around her hair. "Jeez, if you keep this up you're always going to be the size of a bean!"

"A bean!?" Naruto looked at her incredulously.

Anko smirked at him, leaning up close and holding the back of his head. "Yeah, a bean."

The blonde boy grumbled and snatched the plate, quickly inhaling the remains of the food and putting the plate back down. "There, I ate it."

The smirk never left her face as she walked out, a small successful sway in her hips.

She had won.

Omake: Fangirl Wars - chapter three

The child, teen, and young adult population of Konoha had been split into two distinct factions, and the rift between them grew as time passed.

Ino and Inago led the Naruto Fan Club, which had grown in size and popularity since its founding almost two years ago. Hinata Hyuuga had been a big help in pushing the group forward, and was just a little below Inago in the ranking system they had created, being a Second Tiered Whisker.

Sakura led the Sasuke Fan Club on her own. Despite this, she still had a rather decent amount of people fighting for her cause rather than her former best friends turned rivals.

Meanwhile, Sasuke and Naruto were completely confused as to why the two fan clubs fought against each other and sabotaged each others plans at getting closer to their chosen heroes. The Uchiha boy and Uzumaki Heir were close friends, and only fought jokingly and in the spirit of good fun.

Once again, the two butted heads at what was supposed to be equal ground for both factions, but always ended up as a war-zone.

"Naruto is going to get rookie of the year!"

"No, you idiot, Sasuke's going to blow Naruto out of the water!"

If it wasn't one thing, it was another. Ino and Sakura could always find something to disagree upon when it comes to Naruto and Sasuke.

"Sasuke has Itachi, who knows like a million jutsu! Fugaku also knows a bunch of jutsu, and Sasuke will soon too!"

"Naruto-san has the ever-expanding Uchiha library at his disposal, as well as Senju and Uzumaki techniques. He was even able to combine many forms of taijutsu into a completely new style suited for only him and his mother. He is wonderful."

The two boys had tried once before to get the two factions to stop fighting, but their efforts only further stoked their 'flames of war'.

Inago seemed to have a better understanding of the actual friendship between the Uzumaki and Uchiha boys than just about everyone apart of both fanbases. It wasn't the so-called _secret hate_ that Ino and Sakura went on about. It was legitimate friendship, and she was honestly surprised that nobody else understood that.

Despite her views on their friendship, Inago still believed that Naruto was the better and frankly more interesting of the two. She herself harbored no hate for the other boy. He just wasn't someone who interested her.

Of course she had tried to make Sakura and Ino see that the boys didn't have some sort of secret violent rivalry. She had tried time and time again over the past year and a half, but neither of them had been able to see it her way. Despite this, she continued in her... studies in peace, and continued to assist Ino in proving to Sakura that Naruto was the better of the duo.

Ino and Sakura continued to fight, and the Uzumaki household had yet to see the bugs moving around the compound in secret.

Omake: New Uzumaki Clan Style Seals, Mine Seals

The air was heavy, warm, and reeked of indescribable smells. A young boy smirked to himself as he continued perfecting his prized seal.

It had all started as just a prank seal used around the house and other places, but an off-handed remark from Kurenai gave him the inspiration to continued working on it for tactical purposes.

He had created proximity seals.

There was a whole assortment of variations he had created using his friends and families jutsu to utilize the elements. Most caused explosions infused with the elements, but others created sounds to distract people, produced smoke clouds, and many other dastardly things.

A lucky feature with the seals was that they disintegrated from sight after being activated, leaving no trails for his mother to trace back to him with.

The door to Naruto's room flew open as he carried a bundle of scrolls with him outside and to the training grounds behind the compound.

Outside, Sasuke was waiting for him, already warming up to help Naruto with whatever crazy thing he wanted to do this time.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted to his friend. "I'm ready!"

Naruto opened the scrolls and scattered them on the ground. A wild smirk could be seen on his face as he did so.

The Uchiha boy looked at Naruto with much curiosity. He didn't know what they did, but he assumed that Naruto wanted to fight with those in play.

Naruto dropped into his unorthodox stance, taunting Sasuke by messing around. The boy turned around and began to shake his hips in Sasuke's direction. "Come on! You know you want it!" He laughed and taunted.

Sasuke grunted and took off after Naruto, careful to avoid the scrolls on the ground.

However, Naruto dropped back into his fighting stance, quickly knocking Sasuke to the ground with a low sweep.

Sasuke spun sideways, his head mere atoms away from slamming into the ground before the scroll below him activated and caused a mighty gust of air to send him back into the air.

The Uchiha was quick to believe that all of the scrolls did that, and was planning to use them to his advantage. As he began his descent, Sasuke attempted to move to another seal, only to be hit with a wave of water, sending him into another scroll that released a thick layer of fog around him.

He could no longer see two feet in front of him, and treaded lightly.

Despite this, he managed to get caught in every single seal.

The day did not end well for Sasuke Uchiha, for by the end of it, he smelled of something downright fowl.

Not all of them were for war, however. Naruto had designed numerous proximity seals to be used in pranks.

A mental map of the ANBU headquarters was engraved into Naruto's mind, as well as the Ninja Academy, the Jonin Lounge, the Hokage Tower, and several other locations that were integral to the village.

He had big plans for these seals, and if done right, the chaos would be everlasting...

**Hello everyone, and welcome back after quite some time of a break! I'm sorry that the chapters have been taking so long, and I did want to have this one out during the one year anniversary of the story, but things got in the way, and it came out a little late. For that, I'm sorry.**

**Looks like things are shaking up for our hero, but things are far from settling back down. It'll only rise from here, and the next few chapters will be going in a bit of a different direction.**

**Until next time!**


	15. The Busy Week

_**Chapter 16**_

It was a cold and dark December morning for the people of Konoha. This winter had been especially cold in comparison to the last few, and it was easy to see that it would be the first year that Konoha got snow in a number of years.

By herself, a lone figure walked through the streets of Konoha, just reaching the clan district of the village. It was an odd sight for the ninja awake to see a civilian in the district, even one with such political status as her. It wasn't because civilians weren't allowed, or anything similar, but just that there was no real reason for civilians to go to the clans. There'd be the occasional child running through with their friends, but that was normally it.

Mebuki was usually awake at this hour. As a woman of political significance, being up early in the mornings was something that that she was used to. She had to make sure that everything was right with the properties and companies she owned and had shares in, and would do what she could to keep things running smoothly.

Now, her early rise would serve another purpose.

Moving towards her destination, the sandy-haired woman carried herself high, though inwardly sulking about how she had put herself into this situation. In hindsight, it was obvious to see that Naruto was going to win. She must have really believed that she had the upper hand in that last match to have placed such high stakes against herself. It didn't show on the outside, though. She couldn't afford to let people see her sulking and moping around because she lost a bet to a kid.

Mebuki stopped. She had finally reached her destination, and the sun still had yet to rise. Her hand rose just below her face and knocked slowly but firmly against the door. She couldn't sulk about her current position. She put herself there, and now she had to suck it up and deal with the responsibilities. She had yet to tell her daughter that she was now working for Naruto. She was well aware of the arguments her daughter got into with Ino and Inago, and didn't want for her daughter to be angry with her too. She would keep this a secret from her for as long as she could.

She had stood there and continued to knock for about ten minutes before a grunt and a faint voice could be heard on the other side of the door.

"Give it a rest, I'm coming!" Mebuki could hear. The voice was undoubtedly Anko's. Her voice had a specific tone to it that others couldn't replicate as seamlessly as she could.

Another minute later and the door finally opened. Anko was wrapped up in her coat, her hair in a messier, hasty ponytail than usual, and a slight scowl engraving itself into her features.

"Good morning Anko-san. Is it early for you?" Mebuki spoke to the mother of her new boss. She had tried to use a monotonous voice, but the humor she was experiencing was trickling into her voice.

Anko grunted once more, nodding slowly and taking in Mebuki's appearance. She had to have been up for at least an hour, given how cleaned up she appeared to be, as well as how she didn't seem nearly as tired as Anko was.

"It's five-thirty in the morning, Mebuki. What do you want?" Anko was getting more and more aggressive and irritated with each passing moment, her tone shifting to a more hostile one to just annoyed.

Mebuki's eyes widened slightly. Had Naruto not told his mother that she'd be working for the Uzumaki family for a year? Was it just too early for her to remember? Maybe she just didn't expect Mebuki to be on the job so soon. "As per the agreements from last night's poker game, I am now Naruto's personal secretary for the year." She said to the younger woman. The look of confusion on Anko's face had told her that she was completely unaware of the arrangement. It was surprising considering that they played the poker game at the Rusty Kunai.

Anko was silent. She asked herself how both Tsume and her own son had not told her about Mebuki now working for the boy. Maybe it was a plot just to see what her reaction would be in this very scenario. Whatever the reason was, Anko stepped aside and motioned for Mebuki to come in.

As the older woman stepped in, she took in the living area around her. She had never been in the Uzumaki compound before, and it looked very much like its own thing. It was a mix of Konoha and Kiri stylings, but it was more than that. She knew the stories of Uzushiogakure. It was its own village and country, and obviously had its own style. Greys, blues, crimsons, they all mixed together in a way that made the Uzumaki clan look fearsome and stylish. The house was unlike any architecture she had personally seen before, and it was quite the spectacle.

While Mebuki was taking in the sights, Anko took the time to meander over towards the couch and flop down ungracefully. The sound she had created managed to snap Mebuki out of her trance and look over at the snake mistress.

Neither said anything to the other, and Mebuki could only watch as Anko fell back asleep. She wasn't dealing with all of this so early in the morning.

Mebuki took several minutes to contemplate what next to do. She couldn't wander around the compound; people would mistake her for an intruder. She'd just have to wait out in the living room until someone else entered.

Her eyes wandered around the room and the kitchen connected to it. Slowly, she wandered in the direction of the fridge. While she was there, she might as well make breakfast. Tsunade and Shizune probably wouldn't have much time to prepare a meal, and from what she had gathered, Kurenai and Ibiki would be coming over soon. They had lived in the Uzumaki compound for some time before moving out, and soon after into the empty apartments within the compound's small clan district. Their visits to the main compound were often, and the two were treated as if they still lived there in the main building.

It was nothing big or fancy, but Mebuki prepared a simple meal consisting of fish, rice, and an omelet with cheese, mushrooms, and spinach. Shizune must have stocked the kitchen, considering that Naruto didn't eat all that healthily if he could help it, Anko was more or less the same way, and Tsunade was far too busy to completely restock a kitchen herself.

It didn't take long for the enticing smell of food to wander around the house, garnering the attention of one should-be-sleeping young boy.

Mebuki could hear the footsteps from where she was. He was a loud kid after all. Even he was still susceptible to things such as being noisy and unable to contain his energy.

"Good morning, Naruto. I assume the food woke you up?" Mebuki asked, her gaze shifting to Naruto for but a moment before returning to the food. She had to make sure that nothing was burned, after all.

Naruto nodded with a sleepy smile. He seemed to have been taking Mebuki's sudden appearance rather well, as he had yet to show any sort of surprise. Ironically, Mebuki was the one to show visible surprise. Her surprise was further elevated as Naruto dragged his feet towards the couch with his mother and lay down next to her

Her gaze turned briefly toward Naruto, her widened eyes and somewhat vacant expression showing her thoughts. "Not that it isn't appreciated, but I did expect a more... vocal greeting this morning."

He still said nothing, his already half-lidded eyes struggling to stay open even that much. The most he could get out was a meek yawn.

Mebuki smiled. Maybe it wouldn't be all that bad...

Soon after, the others of the compound began to stir awake. Everyone met and greeted Mebuki, surprise being the most common emotion being shown at the time. After everyone had gathered together, Mebuki explained the situation to them all. Naruto assisted as well, confirming the story and even providing Tsume as another witness to the deal.

After the shock had worn off, everyone went their separate ways for the day, Mebuki deciding to stay at the compound to help and organize anything and everything.

Noon quickly arrived for Kurenai, Anko, and Yugana. After meeting Mebuki and eating breakfast, the three decided to spend the day about the town, which eventually led them to the hot springs. If it weren't for the unwavering objections by Yugana and Kurenai and the fact that he was at school, Anko would have brought Naruto with them for whatever reason she had in mind. Certainly it wasn't a humorless idea, but the two stood their ground.

Joke after joke, the three eventually settled on calling their time together 'sister time', which seemed to be some sort of inside joke between the three of them.

The trio sat and relaxed in the hot springs, Kurenai a comfortable distance away from Anko and Yugana. Kurenai, who had been relatively quiet, was found reading a small, thick, unmarked book. The book was strangely close to her face, as if she wouldn't allow anyone to read it over her shoulder.

Of course, Anko knew quite well what that book was, but said nothing about it.

For some time now, Kurenai had been leading a group of women in Konoha that fought against perversion; not to mention the perverts themselves. This would include such people and things like Jiraiya and his _Icha Icha_ collection of books.

However, Anko knew her hypocritical secret.

Coincidentally, Anko had what was considered one of the largest collection of_ Icha Icha_ and other similar material in the Elemental Nations hidden somewhere in the compound.

The two had what could be called a truce when it came to the situations regarding the material. Kurenai would not badger Anko about her collection, and Anko would not expose her oh-so-horrible secret.

Yugana, however, was out of the loop regarding the truce, and thus was both free to attack the situation and quite unknowledgeable about it.

Without hesitation, Yugana bit her thumb before quickly submerging it in water. The action went unnoticed, as well as the snake that she had summoned.

The woman smirked to herself, her eyes focused on the book in Kurenai's hands.

In an instant, the snake shot out of the water, aiming for the book.

The book was thrown into the air due to Kurenai's surprise and shock. In that moment, Yugana disappeared from the water and reappeared on the ground with the book in her hands.

"Ha!" She laughed in victory, unaware of the glare being cast her way by Kurenai.

Kurenai would not stand for this. Yugana was walking into unknown territory, and if word happened to get out...

Word will not get out. **Could** **not** get out.

The enraged woman lunged out of the water to swipe the book away from Yugana, but she was, sadly, one step behind the twin.

Yugana spun around, being careful not to slip. Her eyes scanned the cover of the book, wondering what could possibly be so interesting that it would pull Kurenai away from her sisterly bonding time with her and Anko.

"Don't you dare open that book!" Kurenai warned her, her hands joined together for the worst case scenario.

Anko only watched. If she really wanted to, she could jump in and pick a side, but that was much more than what she was willing to do at this point in time.

Yugana smiled, a single finger sliding between the pages of the book and prying it open. Before she opened it, she took a look at Kurenai. She wanted to see the expression on her face when she saw whatever it was that she wasn't supposed to see.

However, Kurenai believed that she had the upper hand now, and simply stood there.

Yugana was surprised.

She was truly surprised.

None of this book made any sense!

It was nothing but strange symbols and what seemed to be mathematic equations. What could such a book offer to Kurenai to get her to act in such a defensive way?

Anko's lazy gaze wandered towards her twin, eyeing her up before asking the obvious question. "Well? Was it your hopes and dreams and so much more?" She smiled to herself, believing that she was the only one to comprehend her bad joke.

"I..." Her voice faded fast. It wasn't at all what she had expected. Her head hung low, both of her arms falling down to her sides. She had expected some juicy secret of some sort, and was truly underwhelmed.

Kurenai smirked. "Just put the book down for now, and let's enjoy the rest of our time here." It seemed that her plan was working perfectly, and if Yugana did what she asked, Kurenai would have gotten away with it scot-free.

And that she did, Yugana set the book down on the ground and sunk back into the water. While she was doing so, she could not hear whatever Kurenai had muttered under her breath. The air around them shifted, but only slightly. It wasn't enough to cause any of them distress.

A short distance away, a single man sat by himself, peering into the hot springs. Usually this type of espionage was for pleasure, motivation, and inspiration, but it was different this time around.

"So this is what I've been hearing about..." He whispered to himself, his eyes focusing on the anomaly in the situation.

She was real, he knew that much. He wanted to know how.

Physically, they were almost the exact same. The same glorious bodies, same purple hair. The difference was a single mark, or lack thereof.

But it wasn't time to make his entrance. The kid still had a few years of growing until he would be considered 'ready'.

Without a sound, the man vanished.

The trio of woman had not noticed the man as he appeared or vanished. For all they knew, they were the only ones at the hot spring at the time.

Yugana just couldn't comprehend it. Why did Kurenai have such a strange book? What was the purpose of it, and what did all of the symbols mean?

Anko could not keep her smirk to herself. She knew what Kurenai was up to, and while she could stand for it, it was as much fun as watching paint dry.

"Hey, Yugana," Anko tossed her words around casually. "Why don't you take another look at the book? It's a little weird, but I'm sure another look will change your thoughts."

Kurenai froze. She was **so** close. No, she had it. She was going to walk away from this day without anyone discovering the true contents of one of her favorite books.

She chuckled nervously. "No, no you don't!" She tried to keep her focus off the book. "You already put your paws on it and saw my book, no more reason to!"

Yugana looked at Kurenai, her gaze slowly shifting into a pensive stare. "You know what..." the words trailed off her lips just as slowly as she rose from the water once more. "I think I will take another look!"

The book returned to Kurenai's hands, the woman unwilling to allow Yugana to see it. While the initial surprise had run its course, Yugana's look soon shifted to a more predatory one.

"I love hard to get..." The words trickled off her lips with a lust for chaos. She had indeed been hoping that she could chase someone around, and now it was fully possible. The mere prospect of a chase was amusing to her, not to mention fun in her strange way.

The two leaped out of the water, both sprinting around the water that Anko continued to relax in. It was a hoot and a half for her. She loved seeing Kurenai squirm, and watching what was essentially herself chase after her, was more so. She could just as easily tell Yugana what the book was, which would shatter Kurenai's pristine picture, as well as give her twin closure on the subject, but it wasn't nearly as much fun.

The time quickly passed, and Yugana was still no closer to her goal. It had been more than an hour for the three of them. Kurenai was forced to use two different genjutsu on Yugana to stop her, but they didn't last much more than a few minutes. Yugana had her snakes, whom assisted her greatly in the chase.

What had started for Anko as good fun soon became mass hilarity. Kurenai and Yugana had long since left the immediate area, both of them forgetting completely one key component. Anko had tried to tell them, but broke out laughing after every attempt. It was too much, even for her, and the woman eventually decided to just relax once more while they were still there.

Much attention had been drawn to the duo running about the streets of Konoha, men, women, and children, all averting their eyes from what could loosely be called a 'spectacle'. Nobody had noticed the snakes or the book, and were focused instead on other...attributes.

To the runners, the world was a blur. All Yugana could think about was getting her hands on the book, and all Kurenai could think about was keeping it away from her.

Time stopped with a single move. Yugana and Kurenai stopped on a dime, their ears being held tightly and simultaneously being threatened to be torn off.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK THE TWO OF YOU IDIOTS ARE DOING!?" The voice of authority shouted out to the both of them.

Tsunade stood her ground, an ear in both hands. She had no idea what they were doing, but it needed to end now before more people got a good look at the two of them.

"Book. Now!" Tsunade commanded. Her desire was quickly fulfilled as Kurenai handed the book to her with little hesitation and lots of fear.

The book was hidden away, and for a brief moment, two ears were spared. Not a moment after, Tsunade picked up the two fully grown women and carried them off back to the hot springs, one over each shoulder. The crowd had long since vanished when Tsunade had gotten involved.

The now trio returned to the hot springs in hopes of not being seen. When they were stopped, Yugana and Kurenai had finally taken notice of their appearances, and had become as red as tomatoes. The two said nothing about it, Kurenai being more embarrassed then Yugana.

Anko, who had continued to relax and stretch in the water, was surprised upon seeing Tsunade with the pair of delinquents who had run off. She had expected one of two outcomes, not an unknown third that made it all the more amusing.

The two delinquents were dropped without care back into the water. Tsunade had some choice words for them.

As they resurfaced, Yugana and Kurenai were filled with a sense of utter dread. They knew that they were up shits creek now, for their recent 'display'.

The book, the prize of the 'game', found its way back into Tsunade's hand. "Now then, let's see what this mess was all about, shall we?" A single finger pushed the book open. Tsunade could easily read the terror inscribed into Kurenai's features, and a part of her almost regretted opening the book.

Her pensive gaze and calm demeanor quickly flat lined as the familiar words and pictures were seen by her eyes. She didn't even need to read past the first sentence. She knew the book all too well, and gave Kurenai a blank stare. All of that fierce protesting was for naught, it seemed.

No words were spoken. Tsunade dropped the book onto the floor and walked out without another sound. She wasn't going to go through the trouble of scolding her; her embarrassment was enough...for now...

After Tsunade left, Anko quickly howled with laughter. "Oh Kurenai!" the words managed to escape her lips. "You're _so_ boned!"

Kurenai only grunted at Anko's laughter, and was unable to see that Yugana had quietly and successfully taken the book. After a moment of reading, she too, broke out in unstoppable laughter.

The redness of Kurenai's face continued to increase in vibrancy. With little to say to defend herself, the red eyed woman sank into the water in defeat.

She didn't need special justu to see that this would not be forgotten any time soon.

To say that Naruto had an unproductive, and uneventful, day would be quite a lie. He, Kiba, Sasuke, Choji, and Shikamaru all grouped together to outsmart the teacher and question everything that he did and said. This proved to be interesting, as Renga was not a person to take lightly. He was a former jonin turned teacher, and quite a strict one at that. Many students got a laugh out of the day long display, and it seemed that the group was wearing down Renga's nerves, slowly, but surely. It wouldn't be too long before he injured one of the five, then the fireworks would explode when Anko found out.

He had walked home alone that day, Kiba, Sasuke, and the others all had stuff going on. Hana had to pick up Kiba for some clan business, and Itachi was able to spare some time for his little brother.

His eventful day would not stop at school.

Upon entering the main building of the compound, Naruto was greeted to the sight of Kurenai tied to a chair and Tsunade standing before her.

The older woman tapped her chin repeatedly, processing many thoughts before Naruto entered the room. Had it really been all day? Time sure did fly.

Naruto was wary of the situation, and thusly took small and cautious steps forward.

"Aunty Tsunade?" His words flowed from his mouth. "What's going on?"

Tsunade turned her head to look at the boy. With a smile, she beckoned him closer. "Ah, Naruto. Your timing is perfect." She watched as he moved closer. "Your godmother here has been keeping a little secret."

Blue eyes widened, focusing on his godmother who looked at him with despair. "A secret?" He echoed.

Tsunade nodded, her eyes wandering to the bound woman. "Should you be the one to tell him? Or shall I have the honor?"

Kurenai's bound mouth could say nothing, her head shaking violently at the prospect of little Naruto being told of such a thing.

"Oh? Did I hear a yes behind those binds?" Tsunade tossed her words carelessly. Feigning joy, a hand fell over her heart. "I'm so touched that I can be the one to tell him."

Kurenai had to do something. Surely Tsunade was only bluffing. Of course, Tsunade, as addicted to a gamble as she was, did not bluff. She would go through with it, surely.

With a burst of chakra, Kurenai was able to get one of her hands unbound, allowing her to rip the cloth off of her mouth. "No!" She shouted, her free arm reaching towards Naruto.

The smile on Tsunade's face warped into a twisted smirk. "Such a pity. I'm sure that he would have loved to hear how you read a certain someone's books despite leading a group against them and his kind."

In Tsunade's moment of strangely uncharacteristic sadistic joy, Kurenai escaped her bindings and ran off with Naruto in her arms.

Tsunade was not at all surprised by this. She believed in Kurenai's skills as a ninja, and had taken extra safety measures during the genjutsu mistress' brief moment of unconsciousness.

Kurenai was quick to move Naruto out of the compound. Like hell she was going to let Tsunade corrupt their shared godson with her secret!

However, the boy in Kurenai's arms was quick to notice something on Kurenai's back. He said nothing, and attempted to grab it. This only resulted in Kurenai trying harder to keep him still.

"Aunty Kurenai! Stay still!" Naruto called out.

Kurenai laughed. That was her line, but she relented without question.

Naruto dropped from her arms, walking around her and taking the item that was strapped to her back. It was a book of some sort. Completely unmarked other than the small hashes of orange strewn about.

When Kurenai looked to see what it was, she froze. In one swift motion, Kurenai took the book away from Naruto. Of course, Tsunade, Kurenai should have known. She wasn't dumb by any means; she was one of the Sannin!

Kurenai turned red before pocketing the book. "N-Naruto," She called to him sweetly. "Thank you, but we should really get goin-" She was cut off by loud, seemingly mindless screaming.

But she knew better.

It was Anko...

The snake mistress was hot on their trail, following them at high speed and was in full on 'Mother Bear' mode.

Kurenai, once again, picked up Naruto and began to run. Hopefully Anko didn't have the wrong idea about what was going on, but for the safety of Naruto and herself, she had to continue running.

Anko chased Kurenai relentlessly, the desire to get her child back and punish Kurenai at any cost was strong.

Just about everyone in the village could hear Anko's screams of rage. They had all learned to fear for whoever could be the target of such screams, but only a few knew what it truly was.

As the noise made its way to Hiruzen's ears, the old Hokage ducked under his desk and looked about frantically, remembering the last time those screams had been directed at him. He knew to fear that sound from his own experiences. Those were the screams of Maternal Rage. Hiruzen soon began to pray for mercy on whoever may have caused such rage.

His prayers were soon answered. Soon after his prayers, the window behind him shattered, revealing a huffing Kurenai carrying Naruto, and Anko, blinded by anger.

Hiruzen could not deal with this. The anger of a woman protecting her child was not something he wanted to be faced with again.

The two squared off, Naruto hopping out of Kurenai's grasp and running over to the desk Hiruzen was hiding behind.

Anko charged Kurenai, shoving her against a wall and holding a kunai to her throat.

"A-Anko!" She choked out. "It's not what you think, Tsunade bound me and threatened to reveal my secret to Naruto! I couldn't live with that!"

The kunai threatened to pierce Kurenai's skin, but Hiruzen was too busy developing impure thoughts at the moment to fully take notice.

After what had seemed to be a full minute of struggling, Anko quickly released her grip on Kurenai and took a step away from her.

"I know." Was the simple answer she supplied with a large smile. "Fifty more sticks of dango and I'll tell Tsunade that I was the one to tell Naruto about your hilarious secret."

Kurenai was almost cowering before hearing her second sentence. "Wait." She replied blandly. "Fifty more? Who gave you the first fifty?"

Anko soon had a smirk that was unrivaled. "Tsunade."

Kurenai gulped, but her mind was reeling with all the outcomes and reasons Anko could have.

"She told me to chase you around if you escaped, and offered to throw in some of my favorite treats if I did so."

Kurenai blinked before she realised what happened...setup! She sighed in defeat. She had to do what Anko said in order to protect Naruto, even for just a little longer.

Coughing, Hiruzen made himself known once again. "If you do not mind, what is this secret? I'm sure that nothing is so bothersome to go through all this trouble to keep Naruto from finding out.

"Oh?" Anko spoke to the Hokage. "Though not as big as mine, Kurenai has her own Icha Icha stas-" Kurenai froze and sighed in defeat.

Kurenai could not believe this. How could Anko just let something so important slip out like that?! Not only that, but she just told Naruto that she herself had a large Icha Icha collection stash!

Hiruzen was surprised. Of all people, he expected Kurenai to be the last person to have anything to do with the series, but after thinking about it, he began to understand a little.

Maybe Anko already knew about Kurenai's reasoning's, and it was too early for Naruto to know, so Hiruzen kept those thoughts to himself as the group forgave each other and walked away.

However, even though they had all forgiven one another. Kurenai was still on edge. As they walked back to the compound, Naruto looked up at the two adults with a question.

"So, what is that book, Kaa-san?" The little boy looked to his mother. He really did want to know what it was and why they were keeping it a big secret from him. He could see Kurenai straighten up and Anko hold back what was sure to be a howl of a laugh.

"N-Naruto." The words from Kurenai's mouth were careful and slow. "It isn't really something you should be reading." Inwardly, she sighed. She was supposed to be setting a good example for Naruto, and Tsunade, Anko, and Yugana were making it near impossible.

"You should know that book."

Anko smiled at her son and gave a smirk that dripped with deviousness to Kurenai. Naruto became silent soon after, contemplating what he had seen of the book, and what his mother had shown him in the past.

As if a light bulb flickered to life, Naruto smiled at Anko. "Is it that book you have a stash of? Ecchi Ecchi?"

Anko could not keep herself from laughing while Kurenai looked at her with utter disbelief. She also found it quite humorous how Naruto did get the name wrong, but still managed to get the point across.

"That's the one gaki!" The Snake Mistress laughed out. "And it's Icha Icha, but close!"

Kurenai could not believe this. After all she had just done, Naruto knew about the books already, and possibly their contents all along?

Anko would not allow her to talk. A finger raised in the air as she caught her breath. She needed to inform Kurenai of what exactly was going on before she popped a vein.

"If anyone's going to corrupt my son, Kurenai, it's going to be me." She spoke with a smile on her face. This of course did not help her situation, but Anko was well aware of that.

In a strange way, Kurenai was able to relax. She could now take a breath of relief and relish in the fact that Anko would be unwilling to corrupt her little boy. That was what she hoped, at least.

However, her peace did not last long.

If Anko was going to be the one to corrupt her son, Kurenai assured herself that the corruption would be in depth and thorough.

The trio returned home with little to say. Upon reaching the door, each of them could feel a powerful presence within the compound. It was a presence they had not encountered before.

With caution, Anko and Kurenai pulled out kunai. Anko had given one to Naruto since he did not wield his own yet, but nevertheless, all three were ready to fight.

A slender hand reached out to pull the door open. In the blink of an eye, the three moved in and surrounded whoever was inside their home.

Much to their surprise, Shizune, Ibiki, and Tsunade were accompanying the ever-stoic Itachi with a cup of tea.

Naruto was the first to put his weapon away, tucking the knife into a pocket for the time being.

"Itachi?" He wondered what his business at the Uzumaki compound was. "What are you doing here?"

Kurenai was quick to cover Naruto's mouth and chuckle nervously. He was still a boy, and obviously forgot about the deadly aura of power that Itachi radiated. Naruto's choice of words was too blunt for her taste, and tastefully apologized for her godson's behavior. "I'm so sorry about that, Itachi-san. He hasn't really learned to be formal."

Itachi simply shook his head. It was actually quite nice to be treated in such a casual manner. He was to be the next head of one of the most prestigious clans in Konoha, so everyone was either worshiping the ground he walked on or kissing his sandals. Truthfully, it disgusted him.

"Please, think nothing of it." His hand swayed casually. "I came here to talk to Anko, Tsunade, and Naruto-kun. Tsunade told me what had happened, and offered me some tea while I waited for your return."

Both Anko and Naruto smiled, leaving Kurenai by herself as a blushing mess. Now another person knew about her horrid secret. Hopefully it wouldn't get out of hand.

Hopefully…

Kurenai and Anko both lowered their respective guards and approached Itachi. Both wondered what he had to say to them, but neither one asked before he could begin speaking.

"If I can, I'd like to talk to just Tsunade, Anko, and Naruto." There was no malice or arrogance in his voice, but it was made obvious that he did not want Kurenai, Ibiki, and Shizune present. The three left without a word, but Itachi still remained silent.

He didn't need to see them or look at them. Itachi coughed twice and watched as Yugao and Kakashi appeared before him.

Since the two had been discharged from the ANBU black ops, Kakashi and Yugao worked as silent bodyguards for Naruto and his family. It had been arranged by both the Hokage and Anko, the latter being the one to suggest and pay for the idea. They dropped in every once and a while, but hardly had the need due to the fact that most of the family consisted of badasses.

With everyone gone, Tsunade, Anko, and Naruto took seats on the couch to talk to Itachi. None of them took the available tea, and watching as Itachi drank from the cup offered to him from earlier.

"My father doesn't trust any of you, I'm sure that you know that." Itachi stated, getting looks from the three. "Less so, compared to the other clans. As you know, the Uzumaki clan is very important to the history of Konoha, just like the Uchiha clan is."

Itachi had assured himself that Naruto was aware of just how strong his particular bloodline was. The Hokage had been sure to reincorporate the Uzumaki clan back into the history lessons of Konoha for all academy students. The name carried a bad pretense for the last eight years, but it was time for the new Shinobi to know who else was a big part of Konoha's founding. The people had the right to know the truth. History was written by winners. Truths are infused into the survivors.

He took a breath. What he was going to tell them would surely garner an unfavorable reaction, but it needed to be said.

"I'm going to murder the Uchiha clan."

The prank war of Konoha continued without any signs of stopping. If one faction ruled over another, then a third faction would be brought in somehow to continue the war. No one was even sure how it started anymore, but none of the many factions in Konoha really had the time to care. Danger was ever present, but the enjoyment from all of the bystanders was even more prevalent.

The teachers of the Academy had waged the war against the Anbu and Anbu Black Ops for three months now, stooping as low as asking the students they taught for help on defeating their masked enemies. Few things could unite the standard Anbu and their Black Operations counterparts together, and when it came to pranking the teachers that foolishly and sometimes inadequately taught shinobi-to-be. It was required. The Teachers time to plan and prank was considerably less than the Anbu's.

The only class with minimal input in the ongoing war was Kabe's. Mizuki had urged him to take a little time to relax and join in on the fun, but the mental teacher decided that it would be a training exercise. The students would be given tasks and pranks to be carried out, and depending on how well they went, and if they were successful, they would be given a certain amount of points. These points could be stockpiled into 'rewards' such as not having to partake in class events or assignments, or even getting one day out of school if enough of the points were raised. Students could join their points together, or cash in their rewards together without consequences. Kabe was making them act like Ninja, and it seemed to be the best way other than giving them actual money for their 'missions' in the prank war.

It gave Naruto and his friends some time to stretch their legs, as well as hone their skills by actually sneaking around and targeting people.

Sasuke was the best of the group. He was as fast and crafty as Naruto, and as powerful as Kiba, but also excelled in stealth. His two friends, while quiet at times, were both loudmouths and boasters. None of the three were arrogant, however. They both knew how lucky they were to be where they were now, and did not take that for granted. Like genin, Kabe's class was split into multiple three man cells. Sasuke, Ino, and Naruto were in a team, Sakura, Kiba, and Inago somehow evened out as a team, despite their conflicting personalities, and Shiamaru, Choji, and Shino were paired together as the only all-male team in the class. The teams were assembled using the data from where they were now in the academy, and were told that it was unlikely that the teams would stay together after becoming genin. Some of them may graduate early, or maybe even late.

Recently, Naruto had been, for lack of a better term, out of it. Since Itachi had arrived at the Uzumaki compound some days ago, Naruto had been sworn to secrecy about his plan.

The three that Itachi had come to talk to objected heavily about the decision, but could not deny that the points that he held were valid. He had even disclosed information regarding the Uchiha that only three other people outside of the Uchiha clan knew about.

Sasuke had taken notice of Naruto's strange behavior rather quickly, but had refused to say anything about it in the event that it was just a little slump. However, it did not seem to be the case. Like many best friends, he knew when his friends were either just in a slump, or actually suffering, and could see the line that divided the two where and when others wouldn't. If Naruto had his rear end handed to him in a spar, that was one thing. This was unlike that.

Another day of school was over, and the Kabe's students were left to carry out their tasks. Despite Naruto's change in behavior, they had been rather well caught up on their missions. Team UzuInoUchi, as named by both Naruto and Ino, had taken the vague mission of pranking the headquarters itself.

When Kabe handed out vague missions like the current one Naruto and his friends were on, it was a sign that they sky was the limit for their pranks. As long as the goal was achieved, they could do whatever they pleased to achieve it.

The mission had been on the board for a month. Naruto had specifically asked for their teacher to hold onto the mission until he could correctly devise a plan for it, and Naruto was finally ready.

The team rushed out of the academy with haste. Naruto's plan, which had been rehearsed for a week during their free time, was going to come to fruition. It was even more helpful that Kakashi and Yugao gave them a layout of the headquarters since they were no longer affiliated with the ANBU nor the Black Ops. Many would consider it treason, but they were now dedicated to protecting and assisting Naruto; so it was their duty to do so.

All three of them knew the location of the ANBU headquarters, as disclosed by Naruto's two former ANBU friends. It was a building that looked exactly like all others, but was strategically placed to be the shortest distance away from other important buildings like the Hokage's tower, weapons shops, tactical clothing shops, and other similar stores. It was incredibly easy to miss to even a trained eye.

The closer they got, the more that Sasuke and Ino worried for their friend. Even Kiba was aware of Naruto's slump. His notable actions in the last few months had been a testament to just how out of the loop he was, and how much attention was accidentally brought onto him.

At first, Kiba had told himself that it was nothing. Like Sasuke, he first believed it to be just a phase. However, as the time passed, Tsume and Hana urged Kiba to keep track of his friend, as Raz had been acting strange as well.

Both Sasuke and Ino were wary of going on the mission with Naruto, their front man of the mission, in the incorrect state of mind. They could only hope that he could focus on such a calculated plan. Ino had tried to help her crush directly, but eventually settled on being moral support if Naruto ever needed her. Their parents told them that Naruto would tell them what was going on if it was that bad of a problem.

When they had stopped at the headquarters, Sasuke stood before the team and looked at what he considered to be another brother, in spirit at least.

"You're sure you can do this? If we mess up and you're responsible, I can't defend you." Sasuke looked at Naruto with an intense stare. They all knew it was just a prank, but Kabe had told them specifically that they were to treat these missions like real life or death missions, and not slack off just because the punishment wasn't death, or capture and torture.

Naruto nodded in response. "I'll be fine." He said to Sasuke. His eyes flickered to Ino, who also showed signs of worry for her fellow blonde, but both of them had to trust Naruto's judgement and go along with the plan.

Sasuke joined his hands together and transformed into Kakashi. He had spent a good week mirroring and shadowing the former agent, in order to get the appearance and quirks just right. When it came to Jutsu, Sasuke was currently the best. Ino, while she was learning, did not take her training home with her, at least not always, and instead spent most of her time making sure that she was perfect for Naruto. Naruto's chakra pathways were always flocculating due to the fact that he had two sets of chakra, one of which he could not control yet. However, he made up for it in taijutsu. With blinding speeds and quick reflexes, he could escape in a pinch.

Sasuke, who knew the layout of the building, walked around to the side and pushed against what seemed to be just a wall. A door opened in its place, and Sasuke walked in. Saying nothing, he closed the door behind him and stepped inside.

Now Naruto and Ino would wait. It wasn't their time to strike or move yet.

Meanwhile, Sasuke took a look at the Anbu headquarters. Surprisingly, it looked like a regular office of sorts. Everyone had their little desks and cubicles, with information and missions and what not, as well as a personal locker in the divided locker rooms. Other than the items in the space, each desk could be identified by a kanji of the animal mask that they wore. Kakashi and Yugao still had desks in the building, though it was never explained to anyone why they would still be there.

Regardless, Sasuke walked through the building without a word, and sat down at Kakashi's desk. His feet propped up on the top of the desk and his hand reached for a book that had the cover of Icha Icha paradise. It wasn't the real book, of course, but just the cover placed over another book.

A few unmasked ANBU had passed by Sasuke, saying nothing to him as Kakashi just sort of appeared when he pleased, and sometimes came to talk to the other ANBU.

After about fifteen minutes, Sasuke sighed and took his feet off the desk. "Phew, it's hot in here." He spoke casually, pretending to wipe a bead of sweat off of his face. He looked around at the other ANBU. "Anyone else?"

A few of the agents nodded in agreement, and Sasuke left to go open a window.

As he walked through the building, Sasuke continued to keep his composure. It was fortunate that Naruto wasn't the one to sneak into the building, as the mission would have failed almost instantly.

In each of the locker rooms was a single window. By use of genjutsu, nothing could be seen looking in, but the ANBU could see looking out. This allowed for them to open the windows as they pleased, as well as open the windows to let out steam and heat.

Opening the window in the men's locker room was no problem, but Sasuke was stopped just before he could get into the other room.

"Where do you think you're going, Kakashi?" A voice spoke to him as the collar of his vest was pulled backwards.

Sasuke flinched. He needed to be careful, or the henge would dissipate. "Back to my desk, for some reading time." he responded carefully. As he turned around, he could see the mask of Dragon, one of the best Black Ops agents the ANBU had to offer right now.

Dragon let go of Sasuke's collar and walked away, only leaving a simple "Good..." in his place.

Sasuke sighed and moved quickly to open the other door. If only Ino was experienced enough and calm enough to transform into Yugao to open the other window. But finally, it was open. Both of the windows were opened, and Sasuke sat back down in Kakashi's seat.

Outside, Naruto and Ino waited for the windows to open. As soon as they did, the two sneacked into the locker rooms and began the prank.

Just like the desks, each of the locker rooms were labeled with kanji, and both the ANBU and the Black Ops agents had their own lockers. Neither Ino nor Naruto could find Dragon's locker, and simply left their mark on each and every locker, rather than just the marked ones.

Tomorrow and all following days would surely be interesting...

Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire.

It was a motto that Anko used to describe her training with Naruto. After he had finished learning something, she would almost instantly put his new-found skills to the test in some profound way, shape, or form.

Sometimes she would wake him up at the crack of dawn and pretend to be an intruder, other times, Naruto would find himself waking up in one of the training grounds, littered with traps and bombs concocted by Anko. Other times, he was given missions, similar to the ones that Kabe gave him. Most of the mission's targets were easy to tag and escape from.

But only one was able to catch him, however briefly it was.

It was the ultimate challenge. Drop in, place the tag, get out, and lay low for the weekend. Naruto knew it was a high priority target right away when the need to lay low was a part of the plan.

It was not the first time Naruto had used this particular plan. The first part of the mission was simple enough. As was expected of him, he found his target walking through the streets of Konoha alone. It was something he didn't expect, but it did help him quite a bit to see that she wasn't traveling with her partner.

Naruto appeared at the other side of the street, walking down casually and taking a glance at the shops as to not seem suspicious. When his target came near, Naruto purposefully looked away and bumped into his target. The two of them fell, and in that instant, when his target hit the ground, Naruto carefully placed the tag on her back.

"Hey!" His target called out. She growled lowly, but stopped when she recognized him as Naruto. "Sorry about that." She was much calmer, and her temper went away almost instantly. "Be careful next time, Pup. The Future Hokage needs to know where he's walking, right?" She let out a laugh as she stood up. A hand of hers reached out to help Naruto up as well, and the hand was accepted.

With little else to say, the two departed ways, Naruto's target completely unaware of the tag placed on her back.

Like all of the other tags Naruto placed on people, this tag was created by Anko. Each tag was made specifically for each individual person. Many of the jokes on the tags went over Naruto's head, but he didn't really care. It was about the joke and the effect it had. Someone has a mysterious tag placed on their back? Everyone is acting strangely around them? Oh, such a trickster the person leading the operation must be!

Now all Naruto had to do now was lay low for two days until he got the signal from Anko to return home.

For Tsume Inuzuka, the day had gone fairly well. Her daughter had spent most of her day training with her team, and Kiba seemed to have not gotten in trouble that day in school...for once. It was a good Friday, and she couldn't wait for the weekend.

She had just gotten back from a week-long mission as well, and really needed the rest. However, there were still things that she had to do, and her R&amp;R would have to wait.

Kuromaru had been through the ringer on the missions. It was nothing he couldn't handle, but the opponent refused to accept his defeat. Kuromaru was put on the spot quite a few times, and needed some rest. Because of this, he stayed back at the compound rather than running Tsume's errands with her.

It was also something to note that Raz's condition was slowly improving. She had gotten into a slump when Naruto had, but it seemed that they were both working through it as time passed.

It all seemed to change after her brief run-in with Naruto.

After she bumped into him and they parted ways, people seemed to be acting strangely around her. The lechers seemed to actually have the balls to speak up to her, even go as far as offering her treats and promises of a good time! They were never **this** active, she made sure of it. She didn't want another man in her life after what happened with Hana and Kiba's father. Needless to say, the hospital was busy that day.

When Tsume finally returned home with everything she needed, the Inuzuka clansmen even seemed to act strangely around her. They weren't lecherous or anything, but just seemed to act as if Tsume had the plague, or something similar.

Tsume found Hana playing with her pups in her room, laughing and smiling as she tried to get them to hold Kunai that were as big as them in their mouths. It was rather funny, and Tsume decided to stop by her daughter's room for a quick chat.

"Having fun, Hana?" Tsume smiled at her daughter. "I think they need a little more time to grow before they can use weapons."

Hana smiled at her mother and removed the Kunai from Nimaru's mouth. "I know, but it's cute and funny to see them with Kunai in their little mouths!"

Tsume couldn't disagree with her daughter, and paused. Maybe she would know what was up with the village today.

"Say, Hana." She started. "Everyone's been acting strange today, any idea why?" She wasn't going to go into the details for her daughter's sake, and told her only what she needed to know.

Hana stopped to think and shook her head soon after. "No, Kaa-san. No idea. People have been pretty normal from what I've seen."

Tsume sighed and stepped out of her Daughter's room. "Well, take care. I guess I'll have to ask around."

With that, she left, and returned to her office, where Kuromaru was laying down.

The aged dog perked his head up at Tsume's arrival, looking around and even standing up to walk around.

The sight was strange for Tsume. What was he looking for?

After about a minute, Tsume finally spoke up from her chair before her desk. "Um, looking for anything in particular?"

Kuromaru stopped searching and looked at Tsume. "Is he here? I can smell him."

Tsume had no idea what he was talking about, and simply let him do what he pleased.

After a minute of relentless searching, Kuromaru slinked to Tsume and sniffed her. "You smell like the Uzumaki pup. Did he did give you something?"

Tsume, initially confused, looked around and on her jacket. It wasn't until she removed it and looked at the tag on the back that her body was filled to the brim with simmering rage.

That was why they had been acting so strange around her! Naruto stuck that perverted tag on her back when they crossed paths!

She was going to find him, and make him pay!

Tsume vanished without a trace. Kuromaru could have his rest. She didn't need him to find one naughty little kid.

Naruto was on the run. He knew that any minute, Tsume was going to find that tag, and she wasn't going to just huff and let bygones be bygones. He was a kid, but if he was going to play with the big dogs, then he sure better be able to handle a bite or two.

He couldn't stay at any of his regular places. Tsume was an expert tracker, and could probably smell his tracks as easily as she could follow a trail of paint. He had to keep moving. For how long, he didn't know. Maybe Tsume would just wait at his house and stay there until he got back. He knew Anko would let her stay over for a few days. She knew where he lived, where he was obligated to go to five out of seven days of the week, as well as all of his friends. Her finding him was just an eventuality if he wasn't careful.

One place came to mind for a place to hide, though it was currently the last place he wanted to be. All of their faces would remind him how they would all be killed rather soon, save for an extremely small number of people. He felt horrible because he swore not to tell anyone what Itachi had in store, but by telling them, he could be saving people. However, not telling anyone would also result in the saving of many people. Different people, but still people nonetheless. He had the burden of knowing exactly how and when a large number of people were going to die, and he couldn't tell a soul.

He hated it, but it was his only chance of getting out of this **mo****stly** scot-free. He took the next closest corner and continued to run through the clan district of the village.

In only a short time, he reached the door of the only home he could be sure he would find solace in. Knocking slowly, he waited for someone to go to the door.

It had been several minutes before someone finally opened the door, and it was unfortunately the last person that he wanted to see.

"Naruto-kun, what are you doing here?" Those dull black eyes looked at Naruto in curiosity. He easily towered over Naruto, but didn't seem to give off a threatening vibe.

And that was what scared Naruto most.

"I need to hide for a little bit, until it gets dark." Naruto was quick to look around, making sure that she wasn't already on his tail.

Itachi couldn't help but knit his eye brows in worry. "Naruto-kun, are you alright? Why are you hiding, and from whom?"

Naruto had no choice but to give Itachi the rundown of the situation. If he was going to get help, he needed to tell him what was going on.

Itachi told him that he couldn't hide in the compound, but he was free to hide in the ANBU headquarters. He was well aware of the fact that he had snuck in, despite not checking in on that day. He smiled upon seeing the embarrassed red hue that took over Naruto's face, and directed him over to the headquarters. There were showers there, and it was close enough to shops that he should be able to stay there for a few days at the very least.

Naruto did as he was told, and rushed to the ANBU hideout to lay low. It had worked, fortunately.

Kakashi and Yugao granted Naruto permission to enter the headquarters, given that they themselves were the only two related to the ANBU that were not affected by Naruto's prank the week before. The ANBU were unable to trace the prank back to Naruto himself, so they would only stay wary about the boy's presence, as long as he didn't not cause any disturbances during his stay.

Twice a day, Naruto would leave the safety of the headquarters to get food and other things from the nearby shops. Even if it was just for two days, Naruto made sure that he acted in irregular patterns. He wouldn't leave at the same time each day, just to make sure that Tsume wasn't waiting for him. He also made sure to wash with feminine soap, a trick that he had learned from his mother, who used men's soap and various other scents to keep trackers off of her. Clearly, he did not care about manly or girly soap, as soap was soap, just as his mother had taught him. It helped him in his mission, and that was the end of it.

During the day, he would work out a little, making sure that he didn't make too much of a stink. He also kept his tracks covered, putting all his waste into a trash bag and asking for one of the Anbu to turn the bag and its contents into ashes, which would then be sent down the drain in the changing room to get rid of his traces.

It was finally Sunday, and two nights had passed. It wasn't comfortable, but he slept in one of the empty lockers during the nights to avoid detection. It was opened ever so slightly so that the lock wouldn't engage. He needed to get out, of course. Sleeping alone was nothing new to the boy. After spending so many nights by himself before Anko found him, sleeping by himself in who knows where was a regular thing for him, though he did miss his mother's warm embrace, from when he would run to her to chase away the nightmares he still had.

With the Sunday sun rising and drowning the room in an orange shade, Naruto awoke and looked around. His clothes needed to be washed badly, and he needed to get a proper meal before he headed back. All of that would need to be taken care of with haste in order to get home as soon as possible.

Using the one-way windows, Naruto peered outside for any sign of Tsume. Perhaps she had given up chasing after him? He did not know, but he would soon find out. He rushed out of the building through the window, dropping to the ground and breaking into a sprint. Before he could reach his maximum speed, Naruto almost choked from someone grabbing the back of the collar on his jumpsuit.

She hadn't given up.

Naruto was quickly spun around to look into the leering eyes of one Tsume Inuzuka. There was only the ghost of a smirk on her face, but it only made her more intimidating to the boy being held up by a single hand.

"Hey pup..." She tossed her words around casually, as if he hadn't stuck a horrible and lecherous note on her back two days ago. "Where 'ya been?" Her tone became more and more aggressive with every word, but death still seemed somewhat unlikely.

He said nothing. His eyes flickering about as he desperately tried to look for a way out of this hairy situation. It was obvious that she knew where he had been, and she was just waiting for him to admit it.

Tsume did not put him down, and carried him off and away from the ANBU headquarters. He did not know their destination, but he had a couple ideas.

He could only hang there in her grip and watch as Tsume carried him through the clan district, neither of them exchanging any words. She would simply let the atmosphere speak for her, and it seemed to be working well on the startled and scared Naruto.

Naruto could see the Inuzuka compound getting closer, as the two of them moved along, but that didn't seem to be where Tsume was headed. Her trajectory was off, and it took him a moment to realize that they were walking to the Uzumaki compound through the path through the woods.

He was confused. He didn't know why they were heading to his own home rather than hers, but he was too afraid at the moment to ask her.

The entire walk home was spent in silence. Just when Naruto thought the mood would change, even slightly when they approached the gate, the gate opened on its own. Naruto was not needed to open the door it seemed, and he was beginning to get suspicious.

The main door even opened to Tsume, who continued to carry Naruto with a single arm. She walked inside and set Naruto down.

In an unexpected turn of events, she smiled at him.

His fear increased tenfold, as well as his confusion. Only Anko smiled in such a situation, and she was the scariest person that he knew. No matter how much Naruto loved his mother, even he knew she could be scary.

She only smiled more, ruffling his hair before snapping her fingers. In an instant, Kuromaru stood beside the clan head.

Even Mebuki was out somewhere. Nobody was to be found in the entire compound. Only Tsume, Kuromaru and Naruto were in the area.

"Good job, pup." She congratulated him. "You'll be a fine ninja someday."

Mustering all of the brain power available to the nine year old boy, Naruto was able to perfectly word the inner turmoil that had been caused the moment that Tsume had found him exiting the ANBU base almost a half an hour ago. She had spoken to him only once before just now, and he could not understand her sincere words and kind demeanor.

"Huh?"

She laughed. It wasn't a howl of laughter, but a mere chuckle.

"I have to give credit where it's due." Her voice settled and her face relaxed. "You had me for a day. I had to cheat just to find you."

Once again, with the full brain power being focused into a single "Huh?", he did not understand what Tsume was talking about.

"Your panther, pup." Was her calm reply. "You had me stumped Friday, but yesterday I used your panther to find you, it was just a matter of waiting until you left the building. You had to leave tomorrow or today since you have school, and today was my lucky day." She explained.

Anko then decided to step out of the shadows, revealing herself to Naruto and Tsume.

"Congrats, Gaki." Anko smiled at her son with pride. "You handled that pretty well."

Tsume patted his head once again, a small chuckle expecting her lips as her eyes focused on Anko. "You know, you could have _not_ used such a vulgar sign on my back. It was unnecessary."

Anko shook her head. "Go big or go home." She said to the older woman. "I needed to give you just the right motivation to chase the boy, and I knew that sign would set you off." She laughed as Tsume grunted, but they both knew that the full effect wouldn't have been there had Anko given Naruto a different tag to place on Tsume.

The more they talked, the more Naruto began to see that Tsume was in on the entire operation. She knew that Naruto was the one behind placing the tags on women, mostly, and she knew that it was going to continue happening. Naruto, however, did not see this revelation coming. He did not foresee Tsume being a part of the planning of his training missions, but he was not going to complain with such a skilled ninja managing his operations.

Hidden in the shadow, a pair of soft brown eyes watched the three. The eyes focused on a purple and red head of hair before fading back into the darkness.

"Anyways." Anko brought Naruto's attention back into the real world, his blue eyes looking into her own, heterochromatic ones. Despite so much hardship, his eyes were filled with innocence and naiveté. Her outcome facing similar situations was much worse. She was gruff, hardened from the cold world. She hoped she didn't have to see the day when his eyes matched hers. "Your next target is already selected, and it'll be your hardest one yet."

The name that she spoke shocked both Tsume and Naruto, but the mission was accepted none the less.

Omake 2: Arms Day

Weeks had passed since Naruto spent a weekend outside of the compound, and the boy had been waiting for this day for what seemed like eons. The Hokage had sent Anko, Kurenai, Yugana, and Shizune out on an important mission together, leaving the house to Naruto, Ibiki, Tsunade, and Mebuki while they were gone.

Waking up that morning, Naruto was quick to get to work. He jumped off of his bed and pulled out a drawer from underneath, grabbing a specific set of tools and items that he had prepared specifically for this day. His mother was always sending him on prank missions, and he was going to show her that he was top dog by pranking her!

With his tools in a satchel, Naruto closed the drawer and walked out of the room. His steps were quiet, careful. Even with Anko out of the house, he needed to be as careful as ever. Anko would surely see his regular traps even with just a glance. His new tools and pranks were custom and designed to remain unseen by even the keenest of eyes. He had to use a hefty sum of his allowance to get everything that he needed, and he knew that it would pay off beautifully.

He stepped into the living room without his shoes on, his gloved hands reaching out to the door to open it. As it slid open, Naruto placed the satchel down on the ground and opened it up. The bag was filled with pre-written scrolls, ninja wire, his various assortments of proximity mines and seals, including, but not limited to, stink bombs, smoke bombs, fake bombs, decoys, and many others.

He began to remove each tool carefully, placing them down on the ground in a specific order as to when he was going to use them and where.

"What are you up to?"

Naruto jumped in surprised. He heard the voice coming from behind him, but he didn't see anyone there on his way to the door. Turning slowly, he could see Mebuki with a hand on her hip and her eyes asking for answers. She was always at the compound at a set time every morning, cooking for everyone taking care of the main building, or just making sure that Naruto was doing well in school and completing his homework.

"N-nothing!" Naruto, for but only a split second, tried to hide his work from his secretary before stopping and realizing that there was something else that he could do. "Wait..." He drew out carefully. "What was the deal that we made at the game?"

Mebuki could plainly see that Naruto was working on a prank of some sort, but why and for whom, she was not sure. She was caught off guard by his question though, and it was something that he had never asked her before. It made her glad that he didn't press on the fact that he beat her in a game of poker and made herself his servant, but she wondered why he chose now to ask about it.

"The terms of the agreement were that I am to serve you for a whole..." She stopped herself, her eyes narrowing as her other hand rested on her hip. Her head shook defiantly as she knew what the growing grin would ask of her. "I must ask that you don't mix me into this mess, Naruto-san."

Naruto's grin widened. "Too late!" He laughed. "You and I are going to have some secretary and boss bonding time! With pranks!" He continued to laugh to himself, despite Mebuki finding none of it funny.

She only sighed, knowing that she had to go along with whatever plan he had formed. A bet was a bet, and she had to see it through to the end.

Naruto tossed Mebuki a pair of scrolls with ninja wire leading back to something in Naruto's possession. She couldn't see what it was, but was able to see Naruto pointing to two spots on the ceiling several feet away.

"Go stick those up there." He said to her. "They'll stick right to the ceiling when they touch it, so no need for glue or to tape to anything." As she did so, Naruto slipping a slip of paper underneath the carpet in front of the door, attaching two specific wires to it before tucking it in neatly.

He then followed the four wires back to a small piece of paper with an incomplete seal, and pulled out a brush and ink. He then wrote in the rest of the seal, and applied blood and chakra to it before jumping up with all his might and slapping it onto the ceiling. In a moment, it disappeared into the ceiling, and the wires were unable to be seen.

Mebuki watched with curiosity as Naruto worked. He was quite a smart boy, much better than her first thoughts of him, even so much so because she had no idea what this was supposed to accomplish.

Naruto then counted his steps from the carpet sideways from each side, placing another scroll on one side and telling Mebuki to place the other on the exact opposite side, the exact distance being the key for the prank to work correctly.

Naruto waited for approximately twenty seconds before turning and walking towards the couches. Naruto wasn't going to use everything in his arsenal, but he wasn't going to go easy on his mother. She'd be ready at the drop of a coin, so he had to be faster than that.

He placed a larger piece of paper on the middle of the living room, placing it upside down so that the seal would be facing downward, and stringing ninja wire vertically, horizontally, and diagonally in a sporadic fashion. He knew the pattern behind the madness, and navigated out of it without any problems.

Naruto led Mebuki into the freshly stocked kitchen, the older woman following without any questions as she knew that Naruto would either tell her what to do or explain what his plan was.

Naruto opened the refrigerator and pointed to an item on the top shelf. "Can you get that for me?" He asked Mebuki.

Mebuki nodded and grabbed the glass. It contained a liquid of some sort, brown in color, and handed it to Naruto. She assumed that it was some sort of drink that would have something in it to keep Anko off guard. Maybe some sort of strong alcohol? The Uzumaki compound did house the nation's strongest whiskey distillery, after all, but the liquid was far too thick to be whiskey, unless it was mixed with something else to hide its appearance and scent.

She knew well, not by first hand, mind you, how strong the Uzumaki Whiskey was. Tsunade and Anko had both fallen to a coma by a single bottle before, and they seemed to have some of the highest tolerances to alcohol that she had ever seen. It wasn't a sleeping agent, she knew by the scent. She knew how to defend herself against lechers in the ninja world, and knowing what sleeping agents smelled like saved her life on many occasions.

However, Mebuki was more than surprised when Naruto took a sip from the glass, exhaling as he lowered it from his mouth. He said nothing to her, drinking it again.

"N-Naruto!" She practically shouted. "What is that?"

The glass was lowered again, and Naruto smiled at her. "Chocolate milk!"

Mebuki sighed so deeply she almost gave herself a headache from the lack of oxygen. He had unintentionally gotten her hopes up, scared her out of her mind, and then told her that it was but chocolate milk. How could she overthink something involving the world's craftiest boy?

After drinking from the glass, Naruto set the glass down on the counter and grabbed his tools, aiming for the dining room this time. He set up shop there, his tools on the table this time as he placed his stink bombs on Anko's chair, and small mechanisms near each of the doorways.

The mechanisms were an item that he had bought, and reacted to specific stimuli, such as smell. When they were triggered, they'd go off once until triggered again.

Mebuki stood still, unsure if she should be moving freely about with Naruto in such a focused state. When he moved out of the dining room, so did she, and the two moved to Anko's room, were Naruto began his zaniest prank yet.

It took work and skill, but Naruto managed to completely flip the room upside down. Nothing was normal in that room any more, and the little gifts that he had left when moving everything would make it impossible for her to not get caught.

The day was spent with Naruto and Mebuki setting up the house with carefully designed pranks, all of which had yet to be activated.

Because he was unaware of when his mother would be back, he needed a way to set everything up and have it wait until she returned. Nobody would be able to trigger the pranks, he'd be safe.

He used a special seal, similar to the seals that were used when he converted his mother into a true Uzumaki. The seals would be there, ready to strike, but would only act upon a specific command. In this case, that command was a specific amount of chakra that Naruto would let out to activate all of the traps. For now, they were there, waiting for his command.

Naruto smirked. The only ones that couldn't be activated were the strings on ninja wire. He had set those ones up because he knew his mom would be coming back soon.

Now all he could do was wait.

Hours later, Naruto paced about the house. People had yet to return, which was good, but his mother hadn't come back yet still. With this, he was both sad and excited. He jumped into the air with the thought of pranking Anko, using what power he could in that jump.

Unknowingly, he accidentally released chakra during the jump for joy.

Just then, the door opened to reveal Ibiki Morino. His large, bear-like form was almost losing its intimidating effect on Naruto, but the man still scared him at times.

Naruto stopped and smiled at Ibiki as he stepped into the house, his foot hitting the carpet with a soft thud.

_Chink!_

An eraser block appeared above Ibiki's head, and a set of dull throwing darts were being launched at him all at once. The look on Ibiki's face was stone still, and the lumbering man lunged to the side, away from the living room and the couches.

Naruto stopped smiling and instantly went to protect himself. After Mebuki finished helping him set up the traps, she went on to continue her day, and thus he had nobody to hide behind.

The stone cold eyes of Ibiki locked onto Naruto, filling the latter with dread.

Naruto raised his hands in defence, repeating the same six words over and over. "It was a prank far Anko!"

Ibiki seemed to have calmed down, but he didn't look any different in Naruto's eyes.

"How many others?" Ibiki asked stonily.

Naruto shrugged and sighed. "I don't know, they're all over the house..." The sorrow that was in his voice clearly heard. Even he knew what Ibiki was going to get at, and they needed to work at disabling the traps before someone else got involved.

But that was the problem.

They were all armed and ready to spring. In addition to that, Naruto made sure that they needed to be activated at least once before Anko could try and deactivate them.

That was the serious part pf the problem.

Without Mebuki, it was up to Naruto and Ibiki to disable everything.

Before anything could be achieved, however, Kurenai was seen walking towards them and the door.

"Kurenai, stop!" Ibiki shouted, watching how close her foot was to touching the carpet just in front of the door. "Do. Not. Touch that carpet."

Kurenai easily picked up on the tone that Ibiki was using. She then pushed herself forward and over the carpet, avoiding the traps.

"What's going on?" She asked the two of them.

Naruto chucked, stepping forward and taking the blame that was rightfully his. "I pranked the house for Kaa-san. Ibiki was going to help me turn off the pranks."

Kurenai nodded her head turning towards Ibiki. "I guess I'll help too. Where are we going first?"

Ibiki didn't respond. He only looked at Naruto, and purposefully made Kurenai look to the boy as well.

"The dining room." Naruto answered.

The three walked to the dining room, Naruto carefully looking out for any extra traps that he might have placed during his spur of the moment. Luckily, none were found on their little walk, and Kurenai investigated the room for the traps.

"I'll go work on this room, you two go and get others before someone else gets tr-"

"HELP!" A familiar cry could be heard in the living room, one that originated from Naruto's partner in crime.

Ibiki and Naruto rushed to the living room to see Mebuki stuck to the ceiling of the room by use of the large seal Naruto had placed earlier. The two men could only watch Mebuki's strained, yet calmed face.

"Please. Get me down." She was holding back her rage of the situation, that much could be heard from her voice.

Ibiki walked up the ceiling and freed Mebuki. As she fell, she clung to Ibiki, causing him to fall down to the ground with her. However, neither of them felt the impact, and watched with wide eyes as they were suspended in the air by numerous strings of ninja wire.

"Naruto..." Ibiki growled, but stopped upon hearing another cry for help.

With Naruto the only one free, he rushed back into the Dining room, only to be stopped at the door frame. He could see inside, and Kurenai could be seen pounding a thick sheet of glass with all of her might, but to no avail.

"Naruto!" She shouted her breath short and troubled. "Help! It smells... so bad!"

Naruto took many steps back. When the stink bomb activated underneath Anko's seat, the little machines would be triggered to produce a near unbreakable glass to keep the smell in.

From the corner of his eye, Naruto could see a head of long, blonde hair walking through the hallway and turning into another corridor. He waited with fear, wondering both who it was and what they were going to run into.

He then remembered that there were only two women in the house with blonde hair, and Mebuki was trapped with Ibiki,

_Chink!_

"NARUTO!"

Omake 3

Even in areas like the red light district of Konoha, there were places that nobody ever went to. For lack of a better term, the area was too feared to venture into alone. Shady people, dark people, despicable people and all other similar people gathered there. One will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

One day, movement and activity was discovered in one of these feared areas. Nobody knew what exactly transpired during whatever meeting took place, but many were sure that it had something to do with a certain resurfacing clan.

The clan had three seats in the council, and as such, the conspirators had three council contacts. The acclaimed and self-proclaimed hottest woman in the village, as well as her identical twin, were untouchable.

Every time something as small as a dust particle moved, the group would revise their plans. It was a beast - a _thing,_ that needed to be put down so balance could be restored.

The day of reckoning would come soon enough...

Omake 4: One-upmanship

Even with the prank war being continued by the teachers and the ANBU, it wasn't the only existing rift between people in Konoha. The two largest fan bases for the two most popular young boys in the ninja academy were at it again.

It wasn't just Sakura and Sasuke's fans anymore that held hostility toward Ino. Even the girls in Naruto's fan base resented Ino to some extent. She had the best of both worlds, working with her crush, and the crush of her rival.

However, Ino was fair. She did not slander and berate Sasuke to his face and make fun of him around Sakura. She understood that Sasuke was good.

Naruto was just better.

With the Hokage taking a more serious position than he had in many years, there wasn't anything or anyone Sakura could ask her mother to go to or do in order to get Sasuke to change teams. The Hokage was once again the rightful leader of the village, and did not rely on the Council to do things for him anymore. Everything that happened, he'd know and react first. They were a board of advisors, not understudies waiting hopefully to get a chance to snag some power.

It wasn't like Mebuki would have changed Sasuke's team placement anyways, even if she did have the power. In the little excursions that Naruto's team went on, the team showed promise, especially Naruto and Sasuke as a duo. The two worked well together, and she could see no reason to disband the team. Her decision was further influenced by her being Naruto's secretary. He would surely have to know of something like that, and he would not be happy about it if it happened.

Because of this, Sakura needed to find additional ways to divide the team that consisted of her Prince of the Moon, and Ino's Prince of the Sun. Each of them had developed more and more pet names for the objects of their affection, and even making new names for them as a competition.

Even Hana was aware of the war going on. A few of the girls that she knew had occasionally given a remark about Naruto and Sasuke being cute kids, and through friends and families of friends who were a part of the fan bases, Hana caught wind of the hilarious and various nicknames.

More often than not, Naruto and Sasuke had to turn down the girls and their requests for personal time. Anko's training schedule for the two was rigorous, and they only had so much time to slack off.

Though he still loved it, Naruto hardly ate ramen anymore. His family said he needed to be in peak physical condition now, so he would be even greater when he grew older.

Sasuke was in a similar position. While he did not train directly with Anko and Naruto all the time, he did pick up on their schedule so he could follow it himself, and his teachers within the Uchiha clan could work off of that and tailor it specifically towards Sasuke.


	16. The Weeks to Come

CHAPTER 17

As the air was getting colder and heavier, so was the weight that lay on Naruto's heart. With every day passing since Itachi told him his plans, It was only a week since he had been told just when and how the Uchiha clan would be slain, yet every day seemed like a longer lasting eternity than the previous one. He could hardly talk to Sasuke any more because of it, and his other friends were also becoming quite concerned.

Raz, who resided at the Inuzuka compound, reflected these emotions, She never stayed focused on any tasks, was always caught laying in her room, and more often than not, did not respond to Tsume or Hana. Unlike Naruto, who tried to hide the emotions he held within, Raz let them show freely, which was easily seen by the Inuzuka women who tended to the panther.

Naruto's only saving grace was the news that Itachi had set off for a mission just a day ago, and from Sasuke's account, was not expected to return for a week. It made Naruto relax much more than it should have, but the weight returned when he realized that he would have to suffer with this knowledge for another week.

It would be unbearable.

Naruto walked home by himself from the academy, unable to let himself get close to his friends in fear of them prying him open and finding out about Itachi's plan. He didn't want to think about what would happen to Sasuke. He was the very last person that Naruto wanted to see at that moment.

And said person was chasing after Naruto in the distance.

"Naruto!" Sasuke could be heard shouting from down the street. The boy was running after Naruto with no reason to stop, only speeding up after Naruto started to break into a sprint to get away from his friend.

Naruto spared no time running away from his problems, and winded the two of them around back into the thicker areas of Konoha. He was certain he knew why Sasuke was chasing him, and he wasn't going to let himself be captured.

Sasuke grunted to himself, watching Naruto as his friend weaved through the streets of the village in an attempt to escape. He must have had some idea as to why he was running away, but could not say for certain. No matter how long he tried to catch up, he was always the same distance away. It was a loosing battle, especially when he considered the fact that Naruto and his mother were like super humans, even by Ninja standards.

Naruto could only smirk to himself as he ran away. Sasuke would either run out of steam or give up, and it was only a matter of time. He did not see any possibility of being captured, and continued to run around. Sasuke should be lucky that he is as fast as he is, and has lasted this long. It was Anko who gave Sasuke the training regiment that Naruto was following so that they could become strong and fast together.

Naruto turned a corner, running into an alleyway to avoid Sasuke. As his head whipped around to see what was in front of him, the boy stopped on a dime, looking up in fear as a single figure stood before him with those cold, soulless eyes that he used to peer into the hearts of others.

The figure raised a single finger to his lips. "Shush." He whispered, but the sound reached Naruto's ears as if he were talking normally. "You can't tell him. He'll only struggle more to escape a death he cannot run away from."

Naruto's eyes widened, his feet taking small, cautious steps backwards, as if he were afraid of tripping on something to allow him to be captured.

Before he could turn around, Naruto was tackled to the ground by Sasuke, who looked at him victoriously.

"Gotcha!" Sasuke smiled, watching Naruto squirm below him. "Dude, why are you running away? Did they already tell you?"

"They? Who? What?" Naruto was on the verge of shouting his questions, but the smallest sliver of restraint kept him from doing so.

Once more, Sasuke smiled to the public. "Well," He started off, "After you left the classroom right after dismissal, like you've always been doing this week, Renga-sensei agreed to let us have a Winter Festival party!"

Naruto visibly relaxed, but also showed signs of surprise. He had been so wrapped up in what had been going on that he forgot that the Winter Festival was nearly there.

The Winter Festival was on the rise!

He hadn't gotten anything for anyone yet, and it was only two weeks away! What was he going to get everyone he cared about? How was he going to keep all of that stuff secret from them until then? How was he going to buy stuff without his mother, or anyone else in the house, knowing what he got and for whom?

Once more, Naruto began to stress out, and shoved Sasuke off of him with ease before taking off again. This time, Sasuke did not pursue him, and instead, wandered back home, preparing for the upcoming holiday.

With the Uzuamki funds, Naruto had a lot of money to buy presents, but he was also given access to a personal allowance from Anko, he had managed to save up that allowance this following year, and was sure that he could use the money to buy nice presents for his mother, his two godmothers, the rest of his extended family, and not to mention his friends.

However, as he walked home, he did not expect an old man to be standing at his doorstep, looking as if he recently suffered from but a taste of Anko's explosive Uzumaki wrath.

"Ugh..." The old man groaned as he lay face down in front of the door, grunting many more times as Naruto kicked him experimentally to see if he was alive or playing dead.

"Hey, old fart? You dead?" Naruto asked, continuing his kicks.

Eventually, the old man flipped onto his back and yelled at Naruto, causing him to flich. "Hey! I'm not dead! And I'm not an old fart!"

As his rage simmered down, he took in the boy's appearance, and sighed. It was obvious that he was now much calmer and ready to actually speak, rather than just snap at some random boy.

The two looked at one another, neither saying a word as the time passed by them. The old man looked to Naruto as if he had seen him before, but the latter did not seem to know anything about the former.

Finally the old man relented, his long, white hair shuffling around with every movement. "Look, kid, I need to talk to your family. Will you let me in?"

Naruto paused. He was just a hopeless old man. What sort of damage could he do to a house full of badasses? With a smile, Naruto nodded and walked up to the door.

A wide smile and a squeal of excitement came from the old man, darting into the house as the door creaked open.

Naruto hadn't even managed to open the door all the day before the old man was gone in a puff of smoke and inside the house. Almost instantly, he could hear his mother roaring, presumably at the old man. Soon after that, he could hear two new voices, one haughty one filled with firery laughter, and another, comparatively softer one that also laughed.

What he was hearing did not seem to be good. Naruto drew the line after hearing one of the new voices actually speaking aloud, with horrid language, no less.

"What the fuck? Why the hell is that fucking old pervert here?"

Naruto rushed in to see the old man, once again on his stomach, being held down by Anko, who smiled viciously.

Two new girls that appeared to be around his age were found on his couch. The first of the two wore glasses and had an asymmetric hair style, and was sitting down on the couch politely.

"Tayuya, you don't have to be so crude about it. He might be a little disgusting and old, given that he spent more time in whore houses than any person should, but he did manage to get us here."

The other one, who wore a strange hat and had similar red hair, stopped her cheering only to say something, but was interrupted by an angry, blonde godmother in mother bear rage mode.

"HE DID WHAT?!"

She started her white hot rampage, and nothing would be able to stop it.

Tayuya shrugged casually. "Oh yeah." She responded. "He stopped at loads of them on the way here. Right, Karin?" She was half tempted to say something that would really get Tsunade started, but decided against it. As lecherous as the old man was, he wasn't that bad of an actual caretaker when he got down to it. He knew how to cook and survive, and had many connections around the elemental nations.

Karin could see the look that Tauya gave her, and smiled joyously. "Yeah! He even tried to sell us out to pay for the hotel bills!"

Karin's words only added fire and fuel to Tsunade's raging flames.

Tayuya nodded back. "Yeah. He didn't want us telling people though. Didn't want them to think that they were getting used merchandise." She sighed, almost dejectedly. "But, as you can clearly see, unused." A ghost of a smirk was worn on her face.

The more that Karin and Tayuya spoke, the more Anko dug her elbow into a rather specific spot between Jiraiya's shoulder blades. He writhed in pain as he glared daggers into the two girls he escorted to the one place they'd be safe at.

How DARE they put HIM on the spot! He was the greatest author of serious adult literature in the Elemental Nations, the Toad Sage himself, the self proclaimed worshiper of beauty! He was even going to teach them something for lounging around while he did his research on the trip to Konoha. Well, maybe not, but he had thought about the possibility of doing that once or twice before. But now, if he mentioned that, it would totally be taken the wrong way, and be used against him!

Meanwhile, Naruto understood very little about what the two girls were talking about, his mother's teachings not covering some things yet. He looked back and fourth between them, gazing at them as if he had seen them before. He knew that he hadn't but something about them struck them as familiar to him.

It had taken her a moment, but Karin had finally taken notice of the little blonde boy standing just at the door. She smiled politely, bowing her head to him. "Oh, he's here."

This quickly caught Tayuya's attention, who turned her head to the door. Her smirk appeared in full, her feet carrying her off of the couch with a bound and walking over to Naruto.

"Hey, you're Naruto, right?" her question was obviously rhetoric, but she could see Naruto nodding anyways. Tayuya was about two years older than Naruto was, as was Karin, but Naruto seemed out of place, even for his age. He was much to old for his looks, but also far too young at the same time.

Soon after, Karin walked up to see him as well. She smiled at him kindly, being almost the opposite of the dastardly smirk that Tayuya shone. "We're... Um, family."

Naruto paused in shock, as did Tsunade, who's rage had just gone from one hundred down to zero in the blink of an eye, and Anko, who stopped applying pressure to Jiraiya's back.

Mebuki, who was in the kitchen preparing snacks, also paused, as did Shizune, who was helping her by getting everyone drinks.

Though she didn't want to, Anko got up off of Jiraiya and let him stand. No words needed to be said to make her order of an explanation to be heard.

"Right," Jiraiya grunted, standing up fully and looking to the family around him. "Tayuya and Karin here are both Uzumaki, orphaned by the death of their parents after the destruction of Uzu."

He looked to Karin, who's expression died down as her head tilted downwards. "Karin and her mother were allowed to take refuge in Kusagakure, so as long as Karin's mother healed the wounded there. Her mother..." Jiraiya tapered off, but was given a nod to continue, as if he required permission to speak. "Karin's mother died about a year ago, and the task of healing all the wounded was passed down to her. I came across her just as it was all happening, and I told her I knew of a new place where it'd be alright for her to live."

His head then turned to Tayuya, who turned away dismissively like she didn't care at all. "Tayuya here, I found in Mizu no Kuni, playing music for money. She has a real talent, and for the past few years, actually, I've been teaching her to incorporate it into her fighting. However, I couldn't tone that mouth of hers down."

Tayuya's head snapped to Jiraiya, barking at him with rage. "I was doing just fine on my fucking own! I don't need some family to coddle me, I've gotten that far without you you fat old perverted fucker."

"But you wouldn't have made it much further." He was quick to respond in a grave tone of voice, as well as a tone of dislike for the insulting title.

She shook slightly. He knew much more than she did, even regarding her own life, and it was somewhat of a scary thought. "H-huh?"

He looked down. "I... Someone was going to get you and use you." He said to her, not in his normal lecherous way, but in one that screamed danger. He then turned to Karin. "You too. This man...He was going to make you pawns in his game, and I had to get to you before he did. If I had a little more time to let you grow up, I would have waited. Really."

The room became quiet. Shizune, Tsunade, and Anko knew exactly who Jiraiya was talking about, but said nothing. The children weren't ready to know about the dangerous third member of the Densetsu No Sannin.

Naruto was especially silent. This wasn't the fearful silence that he had when he was learning about his mother and father. He wondered how many others were wandering about, maybe searching for others as well. These two weren't kept a secret from Naruto, their information wasn't withheld from him to make him suffer, they simply had never been known about by Konoha.

In an instant, he tackled the two in a hug, smiling joyously and holding them close. He loved his family, especially his mother, but these were actual family members, related to him through blood. Not blood altered through a seal designed by his family, but actual, natural blood.

There were more out there, he was sure of it.

Tayuya grinned devilishly, patting him harshly on the back, while Karin took a more gentle approach.

"I guess this means we have someone to speak up for us to let us into Konoha!" Karin smiled.

Though Tayuya would not show, or admit it, she was happy that she finally had a home with a family. Jiraiya and Karin made for a nice family, but Naruto had a family with more than enough to spare, plus he was blood family. Seriously, this kid had too many people living under his roof. How did he keep track of them all?

Naruto looked to Tsunade for answers. Had both Karin and Tayuya told his family about styaing in Konoha before he had arrived? If they knew more than he did, he wold really have appreciated it if they filled him in on what he was missing.

A hand reached up to massage the bridge of Tsunade's nose, where she looked between Naruto and Jiraiya. "Naruto, you're fine with being the clan responsible for these girls, right?"

Naruto nodded, a smile on his features once more. "Yep!"

"Okay." She turned back to her old friend. "And they are, for certain, Uzumaki?" Jiraiya said nothing to them, but nodded back in response, prompting Tsunade to walk toward Naruto.

Naruto let go of the two new additions to his family and looked up at his godmother. Still, Tsunade wasn't replied to, and was left to continue the conversation on her own.

Tsunade paced a bit, tossing glances at Anko, Naruto, and the trio that had arrived just recently. "Anko is the rightful acting clan head at the moment, everyone knows that much. But we also all know that this clan is rightfully Naruto's, so he has the final say in these kinds of clan matters."

She turned fully to Anko. "Naruto just approved these two staying here. What's your say?"

Anko knew that it didn't really matter what she thought. Naruto had his mind dead set on letting these girls in, and as bad as Jiraiya could be, he was probably a reliable source. He could be trusted.

However, trust did not mean that he was forgiven for not attending to Naruto when he was younger and growing up in a hateful village.

"I don't see why they can't stay, but we do need to talk about Jiraiya's punishment..." Anko smirked, trailing off as her smirk turned downright sinister.

Both Tsunade and Jiraiya looked to Anko in shock, one in surprise, the other in fear of that grin, but Tsunade's look quickly shifted to a similar smirk, that was equally, if not more, terrifying.

"Right. He was Naruto's godfather." Tsunade nodded to herself. "With that spy network he has, he should have known that Naruto was in trouble here at home."

Before Jiraiya could make his grand escape, he realized what they said, 'Was?!' he thought with shock as Anko launched a fist between his shoulder blades, causing him to fall back down. The only thing he could do was to let himself be dragged off by Tsunade and Anko.

"You be good now, Naruto. Karin and Tayuya, we're are going with Jiraiya, Tsunade, and I to talk about getting them registered into Konoha under the Uzumaki clan."

Naruto nodded, watching the new extension of his family walking off to the Hokage tower. Soon after they left, Yugana appeared from one of the hallways, apparently having listened to the conversation. Soon after she appeared, Kurenai and Ibiki appeared as well.

Kurenai had a hand over her mouth, trying to keep herself from breaking out into laughter, oh what bliss revenge could be. Deep down, she hoped that Anko and Tsunade wouldn't injure his hands, but she kept that to herself.

Meanwhile, Ibiki looked as stone-faced as ever, showing little to reveal what he was thinking inside. Inwardly, his emotions were just as cold as his expression.

Mebuki and Shizune left the kitchen and walked into the main room, each holding a tray with snacks and drinks on them. However, when Mebuki took notice that five people were gone, she sighed to herself.

Naruto was just about to dart at those snacks, but Mebuki stopped him.

"Naruto!" She said firmly. "These are for everyone. You can't have them all."

Naruto sighed and stopped, choosing to calmly walk over and grab only a single finger food from the tray Mebuki provided.

Tsunade dragged Jiraiya through the streets with ease, caring little of what the people around her said and did around her. He wasn't one to give up easily, but Tsunade would handle him.

Someone had to.

Tayuya was laughing all the while as she and Karin looked about. They hadn't actually been to Konoha before, but Jiraiya had said that he visited the village somewhat recently before bringing them there. They had just assumed that he was off doing research.

The Hokage tower quickly came into view, towering above all and standing as a symbol of diplomatic power, peace, and authority.

Before long, the group of five walked into the lobby of the tower, where Sarutobi's secretary was sitting down and working on something. As her head tilted up, she could easily identify three of the five visitors, and directed them to the Hokage's office. The Secretary did not want to anger Anko or Tsunade. She knew full well, and how, the path of destruction those two left behind them when they were angered.

"Good fucking riddance." Tayuya chirped as they passed the secretary, which she saw more as a guard checkpoint than anything else. Her comment resulted in her getting a swift elbow into her side from Karin. It didn't hurt her much, but it did show her friend's disapproval.

None of the adults said anything to Tayuya, and simply walked onwards. In Jiraiya's case, he was dragged onward, despite his struggles.

They stopped at the door to the Hokage's office, Tsunade stepping forward with Jiraiya still in hand. Her free hand knocked on the door firmly, her immense strength leaving unintentional marks on the wood. Hiruzen should be lucky that he didn't have to order a new door.

With a soft command to enter, the door was opened, and the group of five entered to see the old Hokage sitting at his desk.

As Sarutobi looked at the group, his eyes lit up as he looked to Tsunade. She was a sight for sore eyes ever since she had returned, being one of the two of his old students who had not performed inhumane experiments on people.

Speaking of his old students, he had not expected Jiraiya to be there. However, upon seeing him, it was only fitting that he was being dragged across the floor by Tsunade herself. He would have figured that Anko would have helped in some way, but the latter woman was simply standing about.

His eyes then moved to the two red haired girls that looked around the office in wonder. He had never seen them before, and they brought an outsider aura, but he could have sworn that they were familiar.

"Ah, Tsunade." He spoke with a smile. "I've been meaning to talk to you about something important, but it can wait." he took a glance at the girls once more. "Who are your guests?"

Tsunade did not speak. Her head turned to Jiraiya, who spoke for her. They both knew that he was the one with information about the two of them, and would be the one to relay that information to the village leader.

As they were spoken about, Karin and Tayuya turned fully to Hiruzen. Neither said nothing, but even just how they were standing told a lot about them.

Karin stood up fully, her eyes focused on Hiruzen and her lips curled into just the slightest smile.

Tayuya, however, looked at the old man with a straight face and a tall posture, trying to make herself seem bigger than she was.

"These two are Karin and Tayuya." Jiraiya spoke.

"Oh?" Hiruzen looked at them with surprise. It wasn't uncommon for people to not have clan names or surnames, but he asked just in case it was what Jiraiya wanted him to do. "Only first names?"

Jiraiya smiled. His hand lifted up to his head and a single finger tapped his pointed headband. His had the kanji for oil on the front in place of the Konoha symbol,

At first, Hiruzen assumed that they were family that he had adopted and taken in, but with a small shake of the head, he was forced to think of other possibilities. His only other option was the Konohagakure symbol that lay upon the headbands. That symbol was created using the symbol of the Uzumaki, with a point and a tail being added onto it.

The old man smiled to himself. "I was not aware that there were any more Uzumaki out there." He stated, getting looks from everyone other than Karin. She simply smiled at him, her face showing how pleased she was to see how quickly he figured it out.

Hiruzen easily read Karin and her features, smiling back at her and instilling a sense of pride within himself.

"They've been traveling with me, and I figured it's about time they returned somewhere reminiscent of home." It was completely possible that they have never actually been to Uzushiogakure, the true home of the Uzumaki. They were only young teens, and the destruction of Uzu no Kuni was years before they were born.

Hiruzen nodded once more. "Ah, I see. So you wish to make them citizens of Konoha?" He looked at the girls once more, trying to guess their age. Karin still had her cute smile upon her face, and Tayuya was standing about, taking in the room. "Possibly enroll them in the ninja academy as well?"

Karin created a look of surprise. "You have an academy for training ninja?" She asked, though she knew that such a thing was an obvious requirement for any hidden village. She looked to Jiraiya, who had a similar look of surprise, but for somewhat different reasons. "Can we be enrolled? We might be a little old, and a little behind, but I'm sure that me and Tayuya can catch up with everyone!"

Now Tayuya turned her head to her red haired friend. She said nothing, quickly picking up on what Karin had been putting down, and sighed. "I don't know, Karin. I think it's a little too late for Konoha to turn us into top class ninja."

The Hokage shook his head. "No, no." He said to them sincerely. "You two will fit right in, I'm sure. Age is but a number in the ninja world, just look at me!" He chuckled to himself. "If it makes you feel more comfortable, I'll move you two into Naruto's class. School is over for today, if you haven't seen him yet, you will soon."

Karin smiled joyously, too happy about herself to realize that she was being watched by a certain snake mistress. Her techniques might have worked on the old man, but Karin wasn't going to get anything past Anko.

"So, let's start with making then citizens first. As the clan head, I'm here to vouch for them, as well as give them a place to stay." Anko stepped forward.

Hiruzen smiled once more, pulling out the appropriate paperwork from him desk. "Good, good. Since they are Uzumaki, you don't need any extra paperwork for them to join the clan."

Anko looked over one of the two stacks of paperwork, taking it into her hands and skimming across the various words. She only need to read one of them, as one would be for Karin, and the other for Tayuya.

Though she only glanced over the words, she made it seem as if she was actually reading it thoroughly before signing it and handing it to Karin, doing the same as she handed the other copy of the paperwork to Tayuya.

The two of them read the papers in their hands, Karin actually studying it before signing while Tayuya replicated Anko and simply grazed the letters.

Shortly after, the two sets of papers were once again on Hiruzen's desk, this time with the signatures from Anko and the two citizens-to-be.

Hiruzen looked at the signatures on the papers and smiled graciously, his hand grabbing onto a pen and dunking the tip into a small inkwell before casting his own signature onto the papers.

After he signed each paper, he dotted the end of the signature, placing he pen down after he had signed both documents.

"There." He said to them. "I'll get these filed through as soon as possible, and I'll alert the compound when it is done. Welcome to Konoha."

Tayuya clicked her tongue, saying nothing to the Hokage and simple nodding with a smile to him. She turned to Karin, who bowed with gusto. She could understand her earlier actions, but the whole bowing thing seemed to be taking it a little far. Nonetheless, the Hokage seemed to enjoy it.

"Now that we have that out of the way," Tsunade glanced to the girls. "We need to talk with the Hokage about something important."

Anko flashed them a toothy grin. "Make yourselves at home in the compound, and just ask Naruto where the rooms are so you can pick out your rooms."

Karin and Tayuya turned to walk out of the room, but were stopped when Anko decided that she had more to say.

"Oh, and Karin, we're going to talk later."

The tone that she used was not one of grave seriousness, but one of a friend who had found out an embarrassing secret about their friend.

Tayuya was forced to snicker as she dragged her now limp friend out of the room, leaving the adults to their business.

They waited several minutes to ensure that the coast was clear before they began to speak.

"Hokage-sama." Anko was the first to speak. "Now that we have that out of the way, I would like to talk to you about the fate of Naruto's godfather here."

Jiraiya was quick to stand up in defense. "Okay, I was keeping my spy network intact, keeping as many tabs on Orochimaru as possible, which is hard, mind you, and I came across those Uzumaki kids." He looked to Anko, who did not seem happy with him. "I was going to head back with Tayuya a while ago, but my ears in Konoha said he was in good hands."

He paused, looking down at the ground as he muttered something to himself. "Though, I was expecting someone else."

Neither Anko nor Tsunade commented on it. Anko refused to say anything in order to hold it against him later, and Tsunade because she was aware of who her old partner was talking about.

His head tilted back up. "The bottom line is, Naruto was not unmonitored. Do you think I'm happy with how he grew up? I might be a super pervert, the most supreme of perverts, but I do know where family lies. Minato was like a son to me, and if I had the time to visit just once, I probably would have taken him with me."

Anko looked at Jiraiya as if he were crazy. There was no way in hell that Jiraiya would have taken a baby Naruto around the nations in his perverted escapades. His mental innocence would be shattered by her on her terms, and no other way.

Tsunade looked through the window, her eyes filled with something that only Naruto could inspire within her. "I don't know how bad that would be, actually. Jiraiya knows when things are important, and despite how me seems, raising a baby would make him change, even just a little."

Hiruzen sat silently, wondering what would have been if Jiraiya had taken Naruto at a young age. Would he be much stronger than he would be now? Would he have had the chance to meet his family?

"Anyways." Anko interjected once more. "For being gone as long as just over ten years, Jiraiya needs to be punished. Of course, being on babysitting duty will be solely his responsibility for now on until the end of time, but he needs a more..." She paused to think of the right word, a lone finger tapping her chin. "Official punishment."

Hiruzen's eyes widened only slightly. "Anko, I'd like for you to bring the clippers within the week. We will discuss Jiraiya's punishment after then."

Now it was Anko's turn to widen her eyes. With the promise of a massacre soon, was now really a time to enact that plan? Hiruzen obviously knew more than he was letting on, but she let it slide this once.

"Got it." Was all she said to her leader.

Hiruzen's eyes turned to Tsunade. "Now, I'd like to discuss something important to you, and I know it's something that you won't like, but you're the only one." He looked to Anko and Jiraiya. "If I may have a word in private, please. You two are dismissed."

The two nodded and bowed before their leader before walking away.

With just two remaining, Hiruzen put all of his focus onto Tsunade.

"As you know, I'm an exceptionally old man. This is my second reign as Hokage, and we all know that if enemy shinobi fail to claim my life soon, my old age will."

Tsunade looked at him in slight shock. "Don't talk like that, Hokage-sama." She said to him. "Did you want to talk to me about your will? Because I won't be taking anything from you. I can't. Too many people in my life have died over your title, and now Naruto is spouting left and right about becoming the next Hokage."

The woman sighed, placing a hand on the desk and leaning against it for support. "I can hardly tolerate the thought of him taking it up, and I don't know what I'd do if someone killed him too."

Hiruzen took a minute to rest in the silence, mentally preparing himself for whatever she might do to him. "I know." He replied to her. "And please trust me, if there were any other close candidates, I'd pick them just because of your history with this wretched position. Tsunade." He looked deep into her soul reaching down to the very foundation of her being.

"I am picking you, as my successor to the Hokage title."

Anko and Jiraiya walked back to the compound with little to say to one another. She might have secretly reinstated his godfather status, but it was for the purpose of leaving Naruto and the other two on his shoulders while the rest of them took a break somewhere. Maybe they'd go to the Yukigakure and see a movie or something. Hopefully she could one day break into the office of people who were supposed to be working on a rumored Icha Icha movie, but she'd just have to wait.

When they had finally reached the compound, they found the main room to be completely void of sentient life. A few plants to make the room more lively, but that was the extent of it.

"Huh." Anko hummed. "Where'd everyone go?"

Jiraiya shook his head. It must have been one of these pranks that he heard so much about. "I can't imagine what they'd be up to." His tone was loud and sarcastic, as if he were expecting for someone to jump out and yell 'boo!'

However, the more they waited, the more nothing happened.

Anko quickly grew tired of it and walked down one of the many hallways, her purple and red hair bouncing ever so slightly from the end of her ponytail.

She didn't really have any time to waste, quickly making her way to her office where she pulled out a set of scrolls.

She knew exactly what Hiruzen had been talking about when he mentioned clippers. After all, she was the one who had found out about Minato's plan to restrain a certain council member so he could be put to justice, by using an elaborate mix of ninjutsu and fuinjutsu to, Hiruzen.

Apparently, the whole council room was littered with seals over seals and so on, ready to spring by using a jutsu over a scroll. It would completely disable him and lock the room down, making sure that no outside forces would disrupt the call of justice.

Hiruzen wanted to wait to use it until he was ready, and it seemed that now he was attempting to hit many birds with a single stone. She didn't know exactly what his plan was, but she would not argue with the old man.

"Anko!" She could hear the voice of a certain old pervert from back in the main room, clearly struggling with something.

Anko threw her head back in laughter, putting the scrolls away and walking back out to the main room.

"Get off brat... ah! stupid ki-Anko!" Jiraiya was having the time of his life, being attacked by three young Uzumaki kids.

Not long after Anko left, Jiraiya had planned to sit down for a moment and contemplate his sitautation. He was the least informed out of the trio that was Anko, Tsunade, and himself, and not even Anko seemed to have a full grasp of what was going on.

There was only one thing he seemed to understand, and that was the Hawk Buster Jutsu.

Minato, in a stroke of paranoia and genius, drowned the council room in seals, all of them waiting eagerly for the master seal to be activated. The only problem was that the master seal could only be activated by using a specific set of hand seals, creating a jutsu specifically for the sake of activating a seal that activated other seals that would seal the room in chakra that was more dense than diamonds, keeping anyone and everyone from getting in or out until the jutsu was activated again, which toggled the seal to disable, which then disabled all of the other seals.

Before he could begin to wonder what else was going on, a blur of orange lunged at his legs.

With ease, he jumped over the blur, but was intercepted in the air by a red blur, which had pushed him back with his chest upwards.

Whoever was grabbing him quickly disappeared, only for another red blur to launch from the ceiling and into his stomach, effectively driving him into the ground.

The wind was knocked out of his lungs, and his legs and arms were quickly held down by two sets of hands.

"Gah!" Jiraiya grunted as he struggled to free himself. "Anko!" He called for the only other adult in the house.

"Get off brat... ah! stupid ki-Anko!" Not long after, Anko sauntered down the hall, still laughing at whatever had trapped Jiraiya. Maybe she wouldn't have a hard time with him as the godfather.

"Can you help me out?" Jiraiya looked to Anko, who only inspected the three children holding him down to the ground.

"Now why would I do that? I think Naruto needed some time to bond with his godfather." She continued to laugh, struggling with keeping herself together.

After a long moment, Karin and Tayuya decided to get off of Jiraiya, leaving Naruto to hold down his legs. They didn't need to be geniuses to know that Naruto didn't like Jiraiya all that much.

Even if Naruto didn't like his godfather, he had to accept the fact that just couldn't have been there for him in the past, and he probably wouldn't be in Konoha for long. But, he had redeemed himself just a small amount by bringing him two blood relatives.

He wanted to dislike Jiraiya, he wanted to hate him, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it.

With a sigh, Naruto stepped off of his godfather and walked to his mother, who looked on as Jiraiya scrambled to his feet.

The silence bored Tayuya. She didn't like the lack of things going on, and decided to speak up. "So, anything on the itinerary for today?"

Anko shook her head. "Nope."

The girl sighed, getting a small laugh out of Karin.

"Well, there's not much to do." Anko continued. "The Hokage will file your citizenship papers, and then place you in the academy, everything we need to do for the two of you is already done."

"What about our rooms?" Karin asked. "We have new rooms, but nothing to decorate them with."

Tayuya nodded. "I'm sure that the pervy fart wouldn't mind if we used his money to pay for it." She smirked at the pervert as he stared at her in horror for her suggestion, he was suppose to be the one that used other people's money. "Honestly, it's the fucking least he could do for trying to sell our bodies." Her words adopted a more teasing manner while looking directly at the old perv.

Anko smiled widely, the sound of a cash register almost chiming as she found an excuse to buy needless shit without using up Naruto's inheritance from his birth parents.

"LET'S GO!" Anko shouted, her feet launching her out the door at breakneck speeds.

Karin and Tayuya soon followed. With Naruto's help, they grabbed all of the money off of Jiraiya, including his check book and all other means of torturing him.

Though Karin and Tayuya were moving fast, they soon slowed down as Karin realized something.

"We can't just leave Naruto there with him." Karin stated. "We should bring him with us."

Tayuya nodded in agreement, and the two turned around to move back to the compound.

Naruto was standing just where he was when they left, looking down at a beaten and battered Jiraiya on the ground, money less.

Karin looked at Naruto and smiled at him. "Come on, you aren't staying here with him."

It wasn't long until the Uzumaki trio rejoined Anko, meeting her at the market district.

"Alright, everyone." Anko's tone was low and dangerous. "No need to hold back, this isn't our money!"

The four jumped off, eager to buy new things to decorate the house.

Not only was Anko buying for herself, but she was also purchasing items for the upcoming Winter Festival. The compound was surprisingly decorated, unlike the last two seasons. Naruto's very presence forced her to go all out, and this year, there had been so much going on she couldn't focus on it.

Karin took to looking at various dresses, combat oriented or otherwise. On the other end of the scale, Tayuya looked for clothing that made her look fantastic in battle, but was more utilitarian in nature.

Naruto, however, was stressing to find Festival gifts for his new family. he had met them only today, but the festival was nearing, and he didn't have anything for them. He had already picked out the perfect gift for his mother, and he knew that she was just going to love it.

"That dress isn't as flattering as you think." Tayuya's tone was flat and dull, watching as her sister figure looked at various dresses.

"Oh, come on Miss Crude, it looks nice, and has built in pockets for storing gear." Karin retaliated with a sweet smile.

Tayuya continued to look at gear that would actually work, and occasionally glanced to Karin, who every time she looked at her, appeared just slightly closer to a small chatting group. She was still looking at dresses, and seemed to devote all of her attention towards it, but she was getting closer to the group.

Naruto walked about, distancing himself from the group and stepping into the Higurashi weapons shop.

"Naruto!" Kajiya Higurashi greeted him with zeal. "How are you today?"

Naruto returned his greeting with a smile. "I have two new sisters! Or cousins, or something..." He wasn't quite sure what their designation was, since blood ties weren't really something he followed all too well.

Kajiya nodded. "Don't know what to get them?" He could see Naruto shaking his head. "Well, are they shinobi? Or an academy student like you?"

Naruto shrugged. "I think they're being put in the academy."

"Then good gear is essential to them! If they get trained using shoddy gear, then when they move to great gear, they'll be using it all wrong."

"He's right, you know." Tenten, an old friend of his, walked out from behind the counter to see Naruto.

Instantly, he began to shake, already knowing what she was going to ask him.

"So, you taking care of that sword?" Jackpot.

"Y-yeah, totally taking care of it." he stuttered, knowing the questions that would surely follow.

"Funny." She gave him a look of disbelief. "I don't recall you walking into the store recently for cleaning equipment."

"I have some at my house." He was quick to reply. "We have all sorts of stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Her questions were becoming faster.

"Oil, cloth, staining supplies, a little pick, and a blade sharpening tool." His answers were just as fast to match.

"You mean a whetstone?"

"Yeah, that."

"How often do you clean it?"

"Almost every day."

"That's a little much."

"It's because I'm so cool that it needs to be sharp at all times."

"Like your brain?"

"Yeah."

"Then it wouldn't cut a thing." She laughed to herself, watching as Naruto sighed. "Let's face it Naruto, I'm going to be a Genin next year, and I'm just way smarter than you when it comes to weapons."

"Well I'm not buying weapons for me." his tone was drowning in defeat. "It's for my new family."

Tenten looked shocked, though she really didn't have to be. That kid always got new family members, too many for her to count. "Well, what do you know about them?"

"Nothin'." He shrugged. "I just met them today, so I have no idea what kind of stuff they use, or what sort of jutsu they use mostly."

Tenten sighed. He only had about two weeks until the festival, and she knew for a fact that Naruto wasn't going to sleep until he was satisfied with what he would eventually get for them.

"Tayuya seems angry most of the time, and says a lot of words that I don't get. And Karin, she's nicer, but it always looks like she's thinking about something." His finger tapped his chin.

"They're Uzumaki like you, right?" Kajiya chirped, bringing the attention back to him. "Why not get them something more seal oriented? I'm sure they have the aptitude for it somewhere in their genes."

Naruto had to admit that he was right. If they were his family, then surely they'd have some sort of innate ability with sealing. However, he wasn't going to take the easy road. In the next week, he needed to learn everything about them so he could obtain the perfect gift.

Of course, he did not translate his thoughts into words, and jumped into the air before running out of the store, leaving Tenten and Kajiya wondering what he was doing.

"Um... Goodbye, Naruto?"

The next morning, an ANBU wearing a familiar mask appeared at the Uzumaki compound, tapping their foot and looking around impatiently.

Dragon could not understand how this happened.

One day, Dragon had arrived at the ANBU headquarters in their civilian clothing. It was quite a rare sight to see them out of the standard issue gear, but one of outfits that Dragon typically wore while making rounds had been dirtied, making it unable for use the next day.

As such, Dragon was forced to take one of their spare uniforms from their locker in the headquarters, and when they had found out what had happened to everyone's ANBU uniforms, they certainly had a cow.

Dragon knew who had altered their uniforms, and now the entire force only had a single, non-marked outfit to use while working.

Today was not one of those days.

Dragon's foot tapping grew increasingly faster, annoyed with having to stand around in such an outfit.

The uniform that Dragon wore was neon orange and pink, decorated with crude drawings and markings with the caliber to match that of a child's.

They knew exactly who was behind it. They knew how it had happened, and yet, Dragon was unable to do anything about it.

Knocking on the door once again, Dragon waited. This time, only a few moments after knocking, the door opened to reveal that absolute last person that they wanted to see.

Naruto Uzumaki, the Demon Prankster of Konoha himself.

Naruto was barely able to keep himself in control when he laid eyes on Dragon's attire. Whatever locker Dragon had used, Naruto had certainly hit it. Or maybe Ino hit it in the women's locker. Naruto didn't know.

"Uzumaki-san." They stated through gritted teeth. "I've been told to escort you, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Anko, Tayuya, and Karin to the Hokage Tower. I assume it's about whatever you talked about a few days ago."

Soon after, Naruto had gathered the group from inside the house and they all headed back off to the Hokage's office.

Anko had taken a bit longer than the rest of the group to meet with Dragon, but nonetheless, the group walked away from the compound.

Once again, they simply walked past the secretary, having an ANBU escorting them saying all that needed to be said about why they were at the tower in the first place.

The door was opened by Dragon as they neared, the Hokage sitting in his chair as he always did. Before him were several small sheets of paper.

"Hello, Uzumaki family." Hiruzen stated with a smile. "It's good to see you all again."

They all bowed before him, even Tayuya, who could see that he was a man that deserved respect. If he managed to stay alive for as long as he has in this sort of world, then he deserved all of the respect in the world.

"Karin, Tayuya." He spoke once more. "Are you enjoying Konoha?"

Karin nodded her head. "We are. It's lovely here, especially now that it's getting colder."

"It's also nice to have an actual roof over our heads that we don't have to pay for every night, or aren't waiting for someone doing something else in a room next to the one we're in." Tayuya gave her snarky two cents, getting a soft smile from Karin, and a dirty look from Jiraiya. "But yeah. It's pretty fuuuu...n. Here." Her eyes darted cautiously, taking in the look of amusement from Karin, and the confused look written on Naruto's features.

"I'm glad." Hiruzen responded kindly, smiling at how she didn't curse in front of him this time. "As to why you two are here, you are now full citizens of Konoha, and will be attending the second year Academy class with Naruto starting this upcoming Monday. Tomorrow."

"Academy?" Tayuya's voice was loud and incredulous. "We're both twelve, and we've been learning under Jiraiya! The goddaaaaaang Toad Sage." She looked around once more. "I think me and Karin should be Genin."

Hiruzen nodded, she did have a point, but his multiple reasons outweighed her single one.

"That may be true." He accepted that fact. His head turned to look at Karin, who straightened up ever so slightly upon feeling his gaze on her. "Karin, you were from Kusagakure before, am I correct?" Her nod affirmed him, and he continued to speak. "Then you must know the protocol for Genin."

Karin nodded once more, looking to Tayuya, who seemed not to know what the two were talking about.

Karin smiled and nodded. "Right Hokage-sama." Her glance turned to Tayuya. "For the allied nations, all Genin are required to be a part of a three man cell lead by a Jonin until they are promoted to the Chunin rank. Sometimes only one Genin from a cell is promoted at a time, and another Genin is chosen to replace them." She paused, glancing at the man who was now her leader. "In some, rare cases, a Jonin can choose a Genin as an apprentice."

"In short." Hiruzen redirected all attention back to him. "You two need a third member of your group, which will all be sorted out when you graduate. This will give you time to bond with Naruto, as well as all of the other academy students." He could hear Tayuya sighing, Karin following soon after, but for different reasons.

"It's for the best, Tayuya." Karin's words were soft. "You'll have to work a little harder to not swear around them, too."

"Nyeh." Tayuya grunted. "I say just boot me to Chunin. I've got the skill, and Karin does too, but she'll be modest."

"Tayuya." Karin's tone was more serious this time around. "We're both good, I'm not going to deny that for your sake." She paused to glance at Jiraiya and Hiruzen, both of them looking intently on the conversation before them. "But we need this formal training. I may not have gone to the academy during my time in Kusa, but I do know exactly what went on in there. We need this experience."

"Ugh." Tayuya grunted once again. "Fine."

"I'm glad to hear it, girls." Hiruzen smiled at the two of them. His gaze shifted to Naruto, who had not spoken yet. It was a little strange for him to be so quiet, but he figured that even the number one hyperactive knucklehead soon-to-be-ninja knew when it was the time to listen.

"Naruto." Hiruzen continued. "The reason I called you here was because I wanted you to know along with Karin and Tayuya that they will be attending your class. Do you have any thoughts about that?"

Naruto grinned. "That's cool!" He said to them all. "I mean, it's not that I don't want them to be in my class, because that'd be really, really cool!" He paused, smiling at who he considered his cousins. "But if they're Uzumaki like me, and they already had training from a guy who says he's good, then why do they need to go to the academy?"

Hiruzen coughed. Truthfully, Karin and Tayuya didn't need to go through the Academy. They were of age, and they had Jiraiya vouching for them. He was insistent on them going through the academy because it would provide Naruto with a few more friends in class, and hopefully, the more brash girl of the new two would put an end to the fan base wars.

Not to mention, after Karin and Tayuya had left the office last time, Anko had informed Hiruzen that she would be serving as their Jonin instructor.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not like the young girls going up to his office demanding that another girl be sent to detention because they did not agree with one another.

"Because, Naruto." His tone shifted noticeably. "No matter how strong you get, there's always going to be someone stronger out there, and all you can do it get better and face each challenge when it rises."

Naruto looked at the old man in awe. He was right, Naruto knew it. All Naruto could do was keep training to fight the next bad guy of the week.

"Now, you three best be off." Hiruzen suggested. "The weekend won't last forever, and you two are starting school soon."

With a huff and a grunt, Tayuya left the room with a bow, as did Karin and Naruto.

Soon after, it was once again Hiruzen, his two students, and Anko.

"Anko." Hiruzen picked up where their conversation had left off the last time. "I trust that everything is ready?"

Anko nodded, pulling a scroll out from her sleeve and placing it down on the table, next to the sets of paperwork for Karin and Tayuya,

"Everything is ready." She noted. "But why now? We could have done this years ago." She paused, taking a glance at the other two people with her.

Tsunade was looking around, as if she were trying to distract herself from what they had been talking about. Jiraiya just stood there, his eyes and ears focused on the conversation at hand.

"What aren't you telling us?"

This made Tsunade look to Anko quickly, something obviously on her mind but unwilling to say what.

The room became quiet and tense, Anko looking at the Hokage fiercely. Jiraiya's expression was one of curiosity, while Tsunade had one of fear.

"Anko." Hiruzen stated again. "You know as well as I do that we're not the only ones in the room, listening to this conversation. Itachi is gone from the village for a reason, and he will return when the time comes."

The room sank into silence once more, Hiruzen speaking again only after minutes had passed.

"He will be brought to justice."

A week from that had passed. Naruto had taken the time to learn more about his new cousins, what they were like, and what they liked, not to mention what they disliked, and what they hated.

By the end of the week, Naruto had assured himself that he knew all he could about them in just a week, and had their gifts picked out perfectly.

Itachi still had yet to return to Konoha, which was a shame, now that Naruto thought about it. he was going to miss the big announcement that Hiruzen was planned on telling everyone that afternoon.

Naruto, Sasuke, Kiba, Tayuya, and Karin walked to the Hokage Tower as a group, passing by ninja and civilians alike. They moved as close as they could to the tower, wanting to be able to hear Hiruzen announce whatever he was going to announce as best as they could.

The quintet had stayed together since school ended that day, staying at Naruto's house while they waited for the announcement.

Now, the five of them stood as close as they could, looking up at the tower balcony from the ground.

They didn't know how long they had waited, but the doors to the balcony opened to reveal Hiruzen Sarutobi in all of his glory. He stood tall, something he hadn't done in a long time, over the villagers he protected and led. Whatever chatter had been going on before hand was now hushed to what was almost complete silence.

"My dear People of Konoha. You have all seen my in these robes for decades. The world has been kind to me, allowing me to live this long and to speak to you as your Hokage. It was truly a shame that Minato Namikaze had died ten years ago, but we cannot dwell on the past. It is time to look to the future."

"In my youth, when I was first anointed the title and responsibility. I took to the role with heart and hope. I had planned to stay as the Hokage until the day I died. But now, I seek peace with myself before I pass on. With this wish, I cannot be the Hokage until my last breath."

The crowd began to rumble with mutterings. They couldn't believe that he'd be passing down the title to someone new, again. Who among them could take such a title? As the people began to talk, sets of onyx eyes looked to one another.

"I have already chosen who will succeed me in being the Hokage of Konohagakure. Though they did first deny the offer, the accepted that it was their fate after much debate."

He stepped to the side, allowing a familiar red and white hat to walk out into the sunlight. The figure took off the hat, revealing a familiar alabaster head with blonde hair, the single marking on her forehead easily being seen by all.

"I Introduce to you all, you're new Hokage, Tsunade Senju!"

It took a moment, but the crowd quickly roared with cheer. Only a select few within the crowd refused to make any noise.

Tsunade smirked. She didn't want this job at first. She didn't want to become another death at the hands of whatever sick and twisted god decided to kill all that she knew who aspired to be the Hokage.

In time, the cheering died down, All voices were hushed as Tsunade rose her hand.

"People of Konoha. Initially, I did not want this job. I did not want to be the one that everyone looked up to, nor the one who would suffer the same fate as my brother and a person very dear to me. Dan Kato, and Nawaki Senju, both wanted this position. They both aspired to lead Konoha to victory and peace. They both acted like a little blonde boy that I know quite well now, who's shining determination was the catalyst for me to return to Konoha, and even accept this honor."

"Dan and Nawaki were two close people of mine. I loved them both dearly, and they both wanted this hat. Unfortunately, they are unable to be here today. Their deaths and connection to the Hokage title are what steered me away. I couldn't take their dreams. I couldn't be the one surviving after everything that had, and will, happen. This was the position that they both wanted, not me. I couldn't forget how their determination to get this title caused them their deaths."

"However, a single boy saved me from my limbo, and I'm not even sure he knows it. He is just like they were. He wants this hat no matter the cost, and I know for a fact that death won't be the one stopping this one. He'd find a way to come back and protect everyone in this village. I, Tsunade Senju, learned something from a ten year old boy."

"Like my grandfather, and his brother after him, I will take this village to the stars, protecting it and guiding it like how they would have wanted. I can only hope that wherever they are, they're watching with smiles as their family rises."

Once again, the crowd roared, cheering on their new Hokage as she dawned the hat once more. This time, Hiruzen placed the hat on her head and bowed before her just as every man, woman, and child in Konoha did.

Several black shadows darted from the crowd, en route to the tower balcony. However, the shadowed figures dropped like flies as they got closer, as did all subsequent figures.

The crowd was quick to scatter, fleeing back into their homes as an attack was happening right out in the open public.

The ninja of the crowd, however, stayed to fight the attackers.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiba broke into their formation, ready to fight whoever dared to attack the new Hokage, as well as the former one.

A figure launched at the trio while Karin and Tayuya left to access the situation.

The figure fought against the three children, but Sasuke knew that stance. It wasn't a fighting form, but one to incapacitate.

Sasuke jumped back to get a good look at the man who was attacking his friends, his eyes widening in realization.

"Father?"

Fugaku looked back at his son, fighting the other two boys with ease. "We are showing the Hokage what power we have, Sasuke. Join your clan and fight her with us."

"No!" Sasuke shouted. "This is wrong! We're supposed to be protecting the Hokage!"

"The Hokage is a frail old man, and his successor has no idea what she's doing! Once we kill the Hokage, I will take the title, and lead Konoha into a GOLDEN AGE!"

Just as he finished, the people of Konoha would find out that sentence was his last.

Fugaku fell forward onto the ground with a thud, the kunai that lodged themselves into his eyes digging further as his face met the earth below him, another sticking out of the back of his head.

Sasuke was shaken to say the absolute least, and turned around to find his brother standing tall, many more kunai in his hands.

Sasuke ran to his brother, his arms wrapping around him and holding him close.

"Itachi!" Sasuke cried. "Please don't tell me you are going to hurt the Hokages too! This isn't right!"

A hand found it's way to the top of Sasuke's head. "Don't fear, little brother." His words were calm and slow, as if he didn't care about killing their father just a few seconds ago. "They have all lost sight of the true purpose of our clan. They are all traitors, Sasuke."

He knelt down to Sasuke, smiling at him. "You are not a traitor, and neither am I. Kaa-san isn't either. We thee may be the last good Uchiha, minus the other Uchiha children." He stood tall once more, looking to the ongoing battle between hooded ANBU, normal ANBU, and the Uchiha clan and the police force. "Now, protect your village from the attackers like an honorable Konoha Shinobi would."

Shakily, Sasuke nodded. He was going to help how he could, but he knew that he couldn't fight his clansmen. Those were the faces he saw every morning and every evening. He hadn't even had his first kill yet. He hadn't even killed animals yet as practice.

He couldn't handle it. All of the smiling faces of the Uchiha men and woman he passed by every day flashed before his eyes. All of them. Each and every one of them betraying the village they had vowed to protect, and all of them were going to die today.

Sasuke fell to his knees, screaming as he covered his eyes, blood leaking lightly from the ducts in his eyes.

Itachi was quick to pull him out of the fight, leaving Kiba, Akamaru, and Naruto to help out.

It wasn't just the Uchiha clan members that were dying. The ANBU and strange, hooded ANBU were also dying, but their combined deaths were only a fraction of what the Uchiha were suffering.

Naruto looked down at the hooded ANBU. They weren't any that he had seen before, even when he had infiltrated the headquarters that one time. They had strange masks, and even when he pulled one of the masks off, the face didn't appear familiar at all.

Kiba looked at Naruto in shock. He had just taken the mask off of a dead guy and inspected his face. Naruto was strangely calm about it, but Kiba said nothing. Naruto's expression seemed dead as he looked at the dead person. It ironically fit, but it wasn't the time for Kiba to be cracking jokes.

"Tsunade!" Naruto called, springing up as he remembered his godmother. He ran to her without alerting Kiba, who decided to stay and help out whoever, and wherever, he could.

Naruto darted into the Hokage tower, not wasting any time getting up to the balcony.

As he entered the office, Naruto was able to get a good look at two badasses in motion.

Hiruzen, despite his age, was as agile as ever, killing the Uchiha men and women left and right.

Tsunade had just thrown someone off the balcony when Naruto had walked in.

"Aunty Tsunade!" Naruto called out, the echo of a scream escaping the room from the man that had just been thrown off. "You okay?"

"We're fine, kiddo." She smiled at her godson, Hiruzen following suit. "How are you? Are any of your friends hurt?"

Naruto looked down in defeat. "Fugaku was fighting us, but Itachi came in and killed him and told Sasuke that he was going to fight with his brother to protect the village. Then Sasuke started screaming and Itachi took him away."

Hiruzen was the first to speak this time, his head also angled down. "I see...Tsunade, after this is all over, do you think you can escort Sasuke to the hospital? I'm worried this revelation may hurt him more than one would think."

"Of course, Hokag- Hiruzen-sensei." She smiled to herself. If he was going to be around the office, even without being the leader of the village, she'd have to get used to not calling him the Hokage.

She was going to have to get used to a lot of things.

"Ah..." Hiruzen sighed. "I love being the leader of this village, but I do not think I'm going to miss all of the paperwork demons." He smiled at Tsunade, his voice changing to that of a teasing manner. "Well, I'm sure you will have fun with them."

Tsunade started to fume. So that was the reason he stepped down! He wanted to spend more of his time reading Jiraiya's dirty old books instead of doing paperwork!

"But couldn't you just make shadow clones? Then you don't have to do any of the work yourself, and you'll get it done faster."

Naruto innocent comment got Hiruzen fuming and Tsunade smirking. The boy was right, and now Tsunade would have just as much, if not more, free time as she did before.

Tsunade lay a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "We should get out of here before Hiruzen hurts himself," she said with a grin directed at Hiruzen, who glared at her in response.

The two laughed as they walked out of the office, leaving Hiruzen to steam up before bolting out of the balcony to decimate all of those Uchiha, and the strange ANBU agents.

He knew who those agents belonged to, and it wasn't him.

Hours passed, and the fighting eventually died down. The village had united to fight against the threats in unison, taking out the strange agents and Uchiha alike. At the end of the stressful day, the problems were not over.

Mikoto sat with Sasuke in her lap, making sure the boy was comfortable and safe. Itachi stood beside them next to the couch, watching everyone in the room.

Silence enveloped the area. Nobody could say anything about what had happened just hours ago, and it was obvious that none of them wanted to talk about it.

It was a silent request, but Mikoto, Itachi, and Sasuke had been offered to stay at the Uzumaki compound until they were comfortable enough with their own home. Just as there was no reason to vocally state the question, there was no vocal answer either.

Mikoto's slender fingers raked through Sasuke's hair, tending to the unconscious boy the best she could. Her free arm was wrapped around him, holding him close to her.

She knew that this was coming. She knew that Fugaku was going to turn on the leaf village, and she could do nothing about it. The only ones left were the Uchiha that were too young to know anything, herself, and her two sons.

Itachi, while relieved, was conflicted. He was supposed to be the one to eradicate every Uchiha. But, his message was delivered, and the only survivors were the ones who knew better than to betray the village. And this way, he could stay with his brother and watch him grow into a wise shinobi.

"Tea?" Mebuki held out a small glass of tea to Mikoto, who removed her hand from Sasuke's hair to grab the glass.

Itachi watched his mother drink the tea offered to her. It wasn't until then that he realized that his throat was dry, and that he needed something to drink.

His hand raised into the air. "May I have some as well?" His tone was light and polite.

Mebuki nodded to him and left to fetch another glass of tea.

"O-oh, my." Mikoto seemed agitated by something that had just come to mind. Everyone around her looked at her, watching her eyes as she gazed upon the festival decorations in the house. Even if it was light, Mikoto knew from the past that the Uzumaki household celebrated with zeal and gusto.

"I'm not sure if we can stay. We'd be intruding on your time during the festival."

"Nonesense." Anko was quick to shut her down. "You three have been through a lot, and where else would you go during the holidays?"

Mikoto was silent for a moment. "We really shouldn't... We don't want to burden you with our problems."

Naruto was the one to answer this time, smiling at the family. "Don't worry about it!" He shrugged off their worries for them. "You guys are friends, and friends can't be alone during the holidays!"

Once again, the matriarch of the Uchiha clan was silent. She didn't know what to say or do in exchange for Naruto's overwhelming kindness.

"I...Thank you." Mikoto had so much she wanted to say, but those were the only words that would form in her mouth. A soft smile graced her lips as Naruto smiled back in acceptance.

Itachi bowed to Naruto. "If we can, I'd like to set Sasuke down in a room to rest and recover. It seems like Kaa-san and I need to do some shopping."

"Nah." Naruto shrugged once more. "You guys don't need to get us anything, really!"

Itachi smiled in appreciation, but his head shook in denial. "It's the least we can do for your gratitude. The other Uchiha should be housed with other families for now. So many toddlers and infants would be too much to manage, for even both of our clans."

Anko had to admit that he was right. Naruto was trouble enough for her, and she didn't need a bunch of brats running around the compound all day and night, especially now that she had two more gaki to look after...

"You'll have to take them back eventually, or hire some people to take care of them in the compound. If they get the Sharingan, you're the only one who knows how to train them with it." Anko noted.

Mikoto nodded at Anko, "I will look after the children. It'll be difficult, but with a little help, we should be able to raise them properly. Since I'll be spending my time looking after the children, I want Itachi to take my place as the leader of the clan. I certainly couldn't do that, especially now."

Itachi nodded. "I will take the mantle, and we will go shopping for the Uzumaki clan."

Though they protested, Mikoto left with her son to go shopping, leaving Sasuke in a room on his own to rest, and the clan was left to it's devices.

The space was a little quieter without Shizune and Tsunade about, even more so with Kurenai and Ibiki going out and ensuring that the village was safe. That only left Anko, Naruto, and Mebuki in the compound.

"Hey, kid." Anko spoke out, her red and purple locks dangling as she sat upside down on the couch. "Let's head out for a little, make sure the area is safe and such." There wasn't much to do, and with just one or two stragglers left out, there was still a little danger in the village.

Naruto agreed to go, seeing that there wasn't anything they could do in the compound. He could see Anko's eyes watching him as he jumped off of the couch cushion.

Anko rolled off of the couch, landing on her feet with little trouble. With her son up and ready to go, the two left the compound to be tended to by Mebuki.

The air was getting colder, they knew that much, but it couldn't be compared to the chill that Naruto felt run up his spine soon after they had left. The feeling brought Raz, his panther to mind, and the boy quickly bolted off to the Inuzuka compound.

Anko was caught off guard, but it didn't take her any time to catch up to her son. "Hey, where you going?" She called out to him as they ran along the path in the forest.

"Raz needs me, I can feel it!" He quickened his pace out of the trees, working his way to the street before turning on his heel straight to the other compound. It was strange that Anko did not reply to him, but he didn't worry about that now.

A sixth sense in Naruto had activated to let him know where his panther was. His body went into autopilot, slipping through one of the open windows, jackknife style.

Naruto ran through the compound where Hana, the Haimaru triplets, and Raz were all fighting a group of the strange, hooded ANBU from earlier.

He could see that they had all sustained some damage, but Raz sprung to attention upon feeling Naruto's closeness. Hana stood carefully, her stance wide to make sure she didn't fall over. Her breathing was heavy and labored, as was the breathing of her three ninken.

Hana was pretty damaged, several cuts lining her body and cutting through her clothing to reveal the red cuts underneath.

"Raz!" He called out, slowing to a halt near his panther and his friend.

"Naruto." Hana's tone was urgent. "These guys just busted into the compound and tried to attack Raz. Kaa-san is out doing rounds, most of the others, too." Her eyes turned to them, her breath light and wary. "They're tough customers."

Naruto smirked, an idea forming in his head as his hands readying a strange seal that Hana instantly took note of.

"Naruto, no!" She yelled, her hands covering his just moments before he summoned the chakra for whatever jutsu he was going to use. "Not now. Just do your thing."

Grunting, Naruto changed the seal and summoned multiple shadow clones,

Each of the clones spread around the ANBU, strategically placed to perform a new trick that Naruto had been working on.

Until he had looked at the scrolls given to him by Fugaku, he had never realized what natures he could use, and now that he knew, the sky was certainly the limit.

The clones formed a singular hand seal, summoning chakra at the same time and shouting in unison.

"Raiton! Uzumaki coil!"

The clones became literal lightning rods, shooting lightning between one another and hitting the agents in the center. The bolts were erratic and unpredictable, but soon shifted to a pattern that looked like the Uzumaki spiral if looked at from above. The bolts became quicker and quicker, appearing as if the spiral was spinning.

After a minute of the impressive display, Naruto recalled the clones, forcing them to disappear.

Wary, Naruto rested on Raz, who took delight in seeing Naruto again. He could see Hana smiling at him, as well as Anko looking at him with approval.

"That was some trick, pup." Hana commented. "Where'd you learn that?"

Naruto smiled back at her, his teeth flashing in the dim light. "I made it up from those scrolls that Fugaku gave me a while ago. I never knew that I could make lighting until a few months ago."

Hana's smiled widened, her breath finally returning to normal. "Cool." Though she was proud of him for doing such a thing, she did not approve of him trying to use that technique in front of Anko.

It wasn't until then that Naruto took note of his friend's full condition. Her clothing was stained with her own blood, and cuts littered her body.

"Hana!" he almost shouted. "You need to sit down!"

"Heh." Her laugh was soft and fun, displaying her amusement in his reaction. "Shouldn't I be worrying over you? I am the senior of the two of us, after all, and I bet that technique took quite a bit of chakra, even from you."

Anko smiled at the two of them, watching as the conversed back and fourth, just as if Naruto hadn't killed at least five men just now.

While they were talking, Anko called Kakashi and Yugao to help her deliver the bodies to Tsunade and Hiruzen.

She was sure that they wanted to see them.

The bodies had confirmed Hiruzens suspicions, and everything he needed was now ready to go.

The next day, Tsunade called the council to an emergency meeting regarding the events of the previous day.

Each of the clan heads sat in their respective places, all looking to one another in silence. Next to Tsunade's seat stood Hiruzen, who had been allowed to partake in the meeting, and meetings afterwards, until Tsunade got her bearings.

In Fugaku's place was Itachi, the only Uchiha shinobi who had not fought against the leaf village with the rest of the clan. Even the civilians were worried about him being in the meeting, being the son of the clan leader and a powerful shinobi, even by Uchiha standards.

"So." Anko decided to speak, breaking the silence in the room. "I think it goes without saying that we need to address the whole, 'Uchiha situation' first. Remains of the clan, the police force, all that."

Itachi nodded to Anko. "Right." His head turned to Tsunade, looking at her and silently asking for permission to speak. Once he received the nod to go ahead, Itachi stood up and looked at the clan heads around him.

"My father, like many of the men and women in the Uchiha clan were brimming with pride, arrogance, and ego. For months now, they had been conspiring to execute a coup d'etat on the Hokage, hoping to claim the village for themselves. The original plan was for me to take matters into my own hands, which would have left even fewer survivors than there are now."

He paused to let the information sink in, allowing the clan leaders to speak among themselves.

"However, the Sandiame Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sent me out on a rather special mission. I cannot disclose what that mission was, but it was intended to leave me unable to perform my task before the Uchiha clan attacked. Now I realize that he is much smarter than all of us believe. By me not being present, the Uchiha clan would surely attempt to kill him, or whoever his successor would be. That is where his early retirement comes into play. He taunted the Uchiha clan with the declaration of Tsunade Senju as the Godaime Hokage, forcing them, to attack in broad daylight, where the battle would be more than just a few ANBU. Eventually, they were all eradicated, leaving my mother, my brother, and the toddlers and infants in the Uchiha clan."

Inoichi looked at Itachi warily, his index finger and thumb stroking his chin out of habit. "So, who will be taking care of all of those infants? Are they going to be raised in the Uchiha way?"

Itachi shook his head. "My mother will be hiring people to assist her in raising the children while I take the role of clan leader." He cast an unusual, kind but unsettling due to it's rarity, smile. "I'm not all that suited for raising children, to be quite honest. I've been slacking with tending to my own brother. Steering this clan back into the light is something I can do much better."

The comment got a little laugh from the council, all eyes on itachi as he sat back down in his chair.

"I promise that whatever these children grow up to be, they will be loyal to Konoha. I only ask that this event is not treated like the Kyuubi attack." The very mention got the room to stir with noise. "Naruto is kind and forgiving, to a fault at times. These are Uchiha children, and are not nearly as forgiving."

Itachi had a point in that. Naruto, had he not been as kind as he was, would have given into the demon inside of him to level the entire village.

"Those poor children." Mebuki muttered under her breath. Had she not been Naruto's assistant, she would have volunteered to help Mikoto raise the now orphaned children.

Itachi nodded, having clearly heard Mebuki's comment. "This was inevitable. Had my father not done attempted a coup now, another leader down the line would have attempted the same thing in the same name."

They all knew that he was right, but one old man stood up and looked to Itachi.

"I shall take care of the children. Give them the proper foods, teachings, and resources to become excellent ninja"

"No you won't, Danzo, now sit back down." Tsundae ordered, but he refused to follow her command.

"They require only the best training and supervision, being the last of the Uchiha. Sasuke will be invited to join them as well."

"Danzo. Stand down." Tsundae ordered once more, but upon seeing that he would refuse, she knew there was only one way to go. "I said, stand DOWN!"

In time with her shout, Tsunade released a heavy burst of chakra throughout the room.

Danzo's singular eye widened. A feeling that he normally felt around him was suddenly gone, and in an instant, he was chained down to the table, his head positioned to look at the Hokage's chair.

After the trap had been cast, several ANBU appeared with multiple corpses, all of them wearing brown hoods and masks that resembled the ANBU masks.

Hiruzen stepped forward. His eyes glanced to Tsunade, who nodded to her teacher to continue.

"Danzo Shimura. You have committed crimes against Konohagakure and her people numerous times over. What say you in your defense." Hiruzen's voice lost all softness, and displayed an edge as if he had been waiting for this.

"I have done nothing wrong." Danzo muttered, struggling against the chains that bound him.

"Incorrect!" the previous Hokage shouted. "These are your ROOT agents, which are still operating, even though I had ordered you to disband them years ago. Not only that, but they were the first ones to provide a counterattack against the Uchiha clan, being positioned in the perfect place to kill me."

Danzo did not get the chance to speak after Hiruzen, due to Tsunade standing up as well.

"Danzo. I sentence you to death." Her voice was stone cold, her body straight and upright as she hopped up onto the table to stand just before the war hawk.

"Any last words?"

Danzo looked up at the Hokage, his eye focusing on the kunai in her hand.

However, he did not speak.

A kunai into the brain tends to do that.

Tsunade stepped down from the table, but Danzo's sentence was not yet carried out.

Hiruzen was the next to step up to the table, his cane in hand as he stood over Danzo.

"Goodbye."

The cane slammed down on Danzo's neck, ensuring that he would never be able to cause any more pain to the village.

Tsunade released another wave of chakra, forcing the chains around Danzo to unwind themselves and return back into the walls of the room.

The entire room was quite shocked. They had all been suspicious of Danzo, but none of them would have thought that Hiruzen would have killed him to silence him and his agents.

"ANBU, please, take this lump out back so it can be burned." Tsunade ordered, watching as her agents filed in.

"Wait." Itachi looked at Danzo's body, pulling it over to him and undoing the bindings around Danzo's face, looking at the eye that was concealed under the bindings.

He knew that eye. He knew exactly who's eye was in Danzo's socket, because he had the other one.

Itachi turned to Tsunade. "I want to give this eye to someone."

Later that evening, Itachi walked next to Kakashi and Yugao, the three of them speaking about how things would have been if he had remained in the Anbu corp. rather than becoming the leader of his clan.

"You would have made a fine ANBU Captain, Itachi. Even if you did make it, we wouldn't have been there to help you out." Kakashi looked to Yugao. "Maybe it was for the best you weren't with us."

Yugao stared at Kakashi, but the look was not returned. At least, as far as she could see. Since he had gone back to using his ANBU mask again, she could never tell if he was making dumb faces at her or not.

But that was a problem for another day.

"To be honest, this isn't the outcome I wanted. However, it's the outcome I got, and my brother and mother are safe." He looked to the other two once more. "It seems I'm not the only one who got a new job from this mess."

Kakashi could be heard chuckling to himself, Yugao following shortly afterward. Neither of them had expected Tsunade to have appointed them to such a job, but Kakashi's new built in features would surely come in handy.

"By the way." The one Kakashi used was more relaxed than before. "I can't thank you enough for Shisui's eye. It seems rather important to you, and I was surprised that you would have given it to anyone."

Itachi stopped walking almost suddenly upon hearing his words. Kakashi and Yugao had not noticed right away.

"You are the only outsider to ever have been given the sharingan, and you use it well. Shisui would wave given his eye to you. You deserve it. It's just unfortunate that they're both always activated. It's sure to be fairly taxing."

Kakashi smiled, not that anyone would have been able to see it. "I'll use it carefully. You said he had the Mangekyo sharingan? Well, I guess that means that I'll be just a little stronger in that aspect than before."

Soon enough, the trio returned to the Uzumaki compound. The sun behind them shone through the trees, illuminating the front door and wall to the compound. The gloved hand of Itachi pushed open the door to reveal Naruto and Sasuke watching something on the television in the main room. It was an anime of some kind. Something about a pink haired boy, a frightening redhead, a buxom blonde, and some guy who appeared to lose his clothes much to often. It didn't appeal to Itachi, but Sasuke seemed to like it enough.

Sasuke sat on the floor quietly. It was obvious that he was still shaken from the recent events, but he was feeling a bit better with his friend at his side. Whatever fight the group was in on the show, Sasuke seemed to be rooting for the heroes, watching in awe as they displayed strange powers that were impossible in the ninja world.

Naruto, though calmed down to some extent, was still jumping around and even quoting the show. Even with the hardships that Naruto had faced, he still found it strange how okay he was with death.

Neither of the two turned to look at Itachi as he walked in, but Mebuki had seen them just before turning back to whatever she was preparing.

"Oh, you've returned." Mikoto spoke from her spot on the couch, her head turning to look at the three before stopping at Kakashi. "So, the transplant went well?"

Kakashi nodded. His fingers curled around the bottom edge of the mask before pulling it off. Underneath the mask revealed that he now had two eyes with active sharingan. "Yes, but I do think I'm going to miss having an eye that I was born with." A soft chuckle escaped his lips. He was curious as to what he'd look like with both of his eyes using the mangekyo sharingan, but that was something to try out another day.

As the days got closer and closer to the winter festival, Naruto and his large company continued to get more and more festive. Anko, with the help of Mikoto, Shizune, and Mebuki, had gotten the entire compound to the correct level of festiveness.

Which made the compound look as if the holiday season had overdosed on every drug possible, but somehow managed to stay pleasant and coherent.

The night before the festival, Anko and Mebuki helped their children get to rest early. There was no mystical being that would deliver gifts or anything, but to get up when the sun would choose to rise the next morning. The winter festival always happened the day after the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, so when daybreak came the next day, it would represent a new day, a new era, and a new hope. On that day, people and family members thank one another and honor each other with gifts, usually picked out just for that person to show how they recognize them.

The holiday had originated a few years after the end of the Warring States Period, in which the people of the newly founded Konohagakure would celebrate the peace and dawn of a new day. Though, they were still in dangerous times, and gifted weapons and items to one another in hopes of helping them live a long life.

Naruto was unable to sleep the entire night. No matter what he had tried to sleep before the day of the winter festival, it would not work on him. He was simply too excited for the day with his big family, and nothing would going to be able to get him to sleep.

Deciding to walk about, get some fresh air then try and sleep once more, Naruto hopped out of his bed, the dog hat on his head flopping about as his feet settled down on the wood below him.

His footsteps were light and careful, hoping to not disturb anyone who might have still been awake in the compound.

As he stepped out into the main hallway of the upper floor, Naruto made his way down to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator to get a glass of milk. Little did he know, a pair of eyes was watching him from the other side of the room.

The other figure moved closer, waiting for Naruto to set the glass down before striking.

"Anko Chop!"

A solid book hit the top of Naruto's head, effectively knocking him unconscious and making him drop into the arms of the figure.

Anko chuckled, smiling to herself as he downed the milk and carried Naruto back into his room. She knew he was asleep, but that didn't stop her from asking herself a rhetorical question.

"Must we have to do this every year, Naruto?"

The next morning, Naruto was early to rise, and quickly began to drag his sled full of gifts out into the main room. He had a lot of people that he cared for, and made sure to get all of them a gift.

Sasuke was soon found in the main room as well, just as excited as Naruto for the gift giving and festival activities that would ensure lots of fun later on.

It wasn't long until the entire group had entered the main room, and everyone was ready for the gift giving, including Mebuki, who only appeared briefly before returning to her family.

Many gifts were given and received that morning, and many smiles were shared. Due to the large size of the family, the gift giving had gone on for longer than anyone had initially believed. After all, Naruto, Anko, Kurenai, Ibiki, Tsunade, Shizune, Kakashi, Yugao, Jiraiya, Karin, Tayuya, Mikoto, Itachi, and Sasuke all had gifts for and from one another. Even clans usually got something for the more important people they knew, like parents, siblings, and children. The situation could only get better when a knocking was heard at the door.

Naruto, behind the pile of things he had received, looked to the door to see who it was, Anko following suit soon after. No one was expecting anyone else after Mebuki had popped her head in.

Cautiously, the door was knocked on again, forcing Anko to get up from her seat on the couch to see who it was.

The door was knocked on once more as Anko found her way around the multiple piles of goods, and was ceased upon the opening of said door.

Outside stood Tsume, Kiba, Hana, their respective dogs, and Naruto's own Raz. The only thing different from normal was that Hana was dressed in a grey parka with black fur lining for the cold. Her normal outfit wasn't enough for how cold Konoha became in the winter.

And also the saddles of gifts that were on the backs of four of the five ninken.

"Guys." Anko looked at them with a sheepish smile. "You really didn't have to."

Tsume's arm raised in the air, her hand flicking downward as the children and dogs filed in. "It's nothing, really. You guys are good friends and it's only appropriate." Her smiled shifted to a smirk. "You guys are practically family." Her pointed response only garnered a slight frown from Anko, who was almost tempted to elbow the older and much more skilled woman to keep her from going on.

That wasn't the problem that Anko had. Her problem was the fact that Tsume hadn't informed her that this would be happening, and as such, none of them had gotten gifts for the Inuzuka family.

Well, one person did.

"Kiba!" Naruto shouted, running into his room to bring a few more unopened presents into the living room. "I was going to give you guys your gifts later, but I didn't think you'd come here!"

Anko sighed. Of course Naruto was the only one who had thought to get their other friends gifts for the hollidays.

As the Inuzuka's managed to get comfy, finding places to sit next to all the gift piles, Naruto made sure all of the gifts were right before continuing the gift giving.

Kiba was given the promise of being taught a cool new move by Naruto, and although he protested being taught by the class clown, Kiba accepted the gift because he secretly knew that he could use the help, as well as a new technique that could boost his popularity and further cement his friendship with the heir to the most powerful clan in Konoha as of recent events, if not just prior to recent events.

Naruto gave to Tsume a new flak jacket. While it was visually similar to the standard Konoha jacket, Naruto had it riddled with protection and barrier seals, making it jutsu and puncture resistant.

With Hana's being the last gift on the list, he had given her what he believed would have been the best gift ever.

Naruto looked to Hana, who was the center of attention being the last person to receive a gift.

Hana instantly became uncomfortable with so many sets of eyes on her, but had to remain calm for just a little longer so they could give out their gifts.

When Naruto placed the wrapped box in her hands, Hana unwrapped it with ease, revealing a well polished box with the Inuzuka fangs burnt into the top of the box.

Hana was given a special set of kunai knives, with the ring on the end being replaced with a bone shape. Kajiya had made them special just for her under Naruto's request. However, the shape wasn't the only thing that was special about them. Each kunai was made from a platinum chakra metal alloy, giving them each a bright white appearance and brilliant shine. The white wrappings on the grip of the kunai all carried seals to keep them from rusting, chipping, and deteriorating, as well as simple things like nature resistance and just refusing to become old.

Hana was speechless, looking at them with awe. She was curious to know who much he had spent to get them made, but due the the holidays, she was unable to ask. Nobody asked how expensive a gift was during the holidays.

"Like 'em?" Naruto asked excitedly. He almost seemed to jump up and down with anticipation.

Hana nodded with a sincere smile. "I really do. They're fantastic, Naruto."

A soft smiled graced the parents of the two kids. Neither of them had said anything, but the look that they shared spoke more than words could.

"Well, with that out of the way." Tsume spoke up, getting all eyes to focus on her. "We have a few gifts for some of you. There's just too many to you to keep track of, so we couldn't get gifts for everyone."

When Tsume said that, she really meant that they three of them had gotten gifts for Naruto and Anko, but her reasoning behind so was solid.

For Anko, Tsume had given her a rather special book. It was one of the many Icha Icha spin off books, but this one had an exclusive cover featuring the main character of the series, which happened to look like Anko before her Uzumaki transformation- as well as Yugana, now that she thought about it, fighting against her rival, a woman who looked like Anko did now. Needless to say, Anko made mental note to have a...'chat', with Jiraiya later about it, and inform Yugana when she got back. All the while, Anko never noticed Kurenai eyeing the book with a hungry look.

Kiba was unsure what to give Anko, and had found a Number One Snake Lady mug, much to her amusement.

Hana, being the last gift giver for Anko, had gotten an artist to draw a wonderful picture of her with snakes wrapping around her arms while she stood in a battle stance, the Uzumaki swirl behind her.

Anko was thankful for her gifts from the three, and was already thinking about putting the picture of her up in the living room so people could see just how cool she was.

"Alright, next up, Naruto's gifts." Tsume announced to the room. From Kuromaru's saddle, she pulled out a small box. it wasn't wrapped, but it didn't seem to need to be. Each face of the box was completely black, and it fit in the palm of her hand. Her hands reached out to Naruto, allowing him to grab a hold of the box.

Naruto took the box and opened it with ease. It lacked latches, and the top slid off from the rest of the box. Inside was a small bracelet using some sort of string to hold a small piece of wood with the Inuzuka fangs on it, as well as a few symbols that Naruto didn't understand.

Naruto looked up at Tsume in confusion, wondering why she had given him a bracelet. He wasn't against the present, but he didn't understand if it surved some purpose, or was just for appearance.

"Pup, a couple of years ago, you sprang into the minds of everyone because of a little hidden feature you have." Her hand extended further to drag her hand across one of the whiskers on his cheek, causing the boy to smile and close his eyes. "Hana was about to claim you that day to keep the Inuzuka clan off your back. Instead, I pretty much put a ban on you, making sure that the Inuzuka clan members couldn't walk up and make you theirs."

Hana blushed, but said nothing as Tsume continued her story.

"Before and after that, our clans have seen a lot of each other, and to make matters better, you guys live, like, right next to us." She smiled upon her pause. Her head shook as she reminded herself what she was going to say. "So, that bracelet there is a symbol. You, Naruto Uzumaki, are being fully recognized as an ally of the Inuzuka clan, and can come to us for anything. We'll always be there for you in your time of need. Oh, also, it's made of chakra wire if you ever need it."

Naruto smiled and slid the bracelet onto his wrist, deciding to wear the item with pride.

Kiba stepped up with Raz and Akamaru, holding a collar out in his hands with the Uzumaki swirl in the center of the Inuzuka fangs. In his other hand were a set of papers with Raz' name on them.

"So, It's kind of a present for you, but me and Kaa-san were able to get Raz cleared for duty. She's a full ninja pet now and can go with us on missions when we graduate! Also, I got this collar for her to use as well. It has space for seals and stuff since I know you like to do that with everything."

Naruto enjoyed the gifts that Kiba had gotten him, and was even more excited for the fact that Raz would be going on shinobi missions with him when he became a genin.

Naruto and Raz could feel the joy and excitedness from one another, and Hana picked up on the silent exchange between ninja and panther, but none of them said anything about it.

Kiba stepped back to allow his sister to step up to the plate, her gift in her hands, Her blush still on her face as she looked nervously down at her present. Her fingers tapped against the black box, waiting for Naruto to take it from her hands.

Naruto took the box from Hana, but did not open it just yet. The look on her face made him want to wonder what she was thinking, and why she seemed to be so nervous.

Slowly, his hands pulled the lid off of the box. The lid came off with relative ease to reveal a set of three scrolls, each of them numbered by claw-like pictures on the side. They sat upon a dark cloth, elevating them from the bottom of the box.

"The first one is a personal med kit, clot wounds, stitch up cuts, some rubbing alcohol to disinfect, stuff like that." Hana pointed to the one with the single claw before moving to the others. "The second one has ninken medical items and food for Raz. That last one has food and emergency tools. Flares, food, an extra blade." Her hand pulled the scrolls out, a single finger pointed to the cloth. There's a pouch just for them in there, too."

Naruto folded the cloth over to look at the small bag. It wasn't anything truly impressive, but the scrolls are where the gift counted.

The boy looked up to smile at her, his teeth shining in the morning light.

Whatever nervousness she had faded away with that smile, her own smile forming upon her features to show that she was glad that he liked the gift. It proved to be a rather difficult task to get something for a boy who had almost everything, and those things he didn't have, he could buy or make himself.

With his eyes flickering to the three Inuzukas, Naruto smiled at them all. "These are all really great, guys. Thanks!"

Tsume shook her head. "It's nothing, pup. You deserve it."

Hana nodded with her mother. "You really do. After all you've been through and how strong you are, you'll take Tsunade-sama's hat in no time."

Kiba laughed at his sister. Kiba knew that Naruto was good, but he wasn't going to give his friend any slack. "It'll take a while for Naruto to get even close to the Hokages level!"

This did not sit well with Naruto. He knew it was a challenge of power, and he was going to prove to Kiba that he was going to be Hokage before he became old like Tsunade.

"Laugh it up, fuzzball! You know I'm going to be Hokage soon, you're just jealous that you aren't as strong as I am!"

The two were quick to butt heads against one another, battling for the spot of top dog.

"I can take you, even with Raz helping you out! Let's settle this outside!"

Before the two could escalate things any further, Tsume stood between the two.

"Come on, it's the Winter Festival. You two can fight later, just enjoy the time with your friends and family. Not to mention, the actual festival will be starting soon." Tsume reminded the two children as she grabbed onto the collars of their shirts and held them away from one another. She was honestly surprised that Sasuke didn't intervene like he normally would. Maybe it was because he knew that a stronger and more authoritative person would step in and get them to stop.

Hana nodded once more, warning the boys to heed her mother's words. "You guys fight all the time. Can't we have one holiday that doesn't end in jutsu?"

Naruto relented first, his body going limp in Tsume's grasp. "Okay, okay." He knew when not to fight certain women in his life, and though Tsume wasn't as radical as Anko, she was just as tough, if not moreso.

Kiba was quick to follow. It Naruto backed out first, that meant that Kiba had a stronger will, and was, in turn, better. "Later." He said to Naruto, who nodded in agreement.

Anko allowed a breath of air to escape her lips. At least those two could agree on fighting.

Tsume let Naruto and Kiba go, each of them returning to their previous seats.

With the scene calmed down, Hana looked to Naruto with a special look in her eyes. "So, Naruto. Are you going to the winter festival with anyone?"

Naruto was completely oblivious to the look on her face, and shook his head in denial. "Nope. Just my family."

Hana wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, trying to see if she could get any reaction out of him. "No one? What about Inago or Ino? I think that Hinata Hyuuga has been looking at you a lot."

Once more, Naruto shook his head.

"How about that Tenten girl? I think she's older than you, but you two seem to get along well." It seemed to get some look of surprise from Naruto, but it wasn't as much as she had hoped.

Anko raised a brow at Hana, curious as to how she knew that much about Naruto's classmates. Kiba probably wouldn't have told her anything. Not because he kept Naruto's personal life a secret or anything, but because Kiba and Hana didn't get along very well.

"How would you know who's into Naruto?"

Hana could say nothing back to Anko, her mind completely blank with an alibi for how she knew that. The response, or lack thereof, got a laugh from a majority of the people in the room, Naruto not being one of the majority.

That evening, a pair of ninja crept through the halls of the Uzumaki household, their feet making only the slightest sounds against the wooden floor. Their large black boots should have made some sound, but the markings on the bottom of the boots seemed to do something in relation to the sound.

The two ninja were dressed in the same red dressed with white fur lining and a large black belt. The two also wore a similar red hat with white fur lining.

"So this is what you've been spending so much time working on." Anko said to her sister, a smile covering her face as she remembered the present that was not given that day.

Yugana grinned wickedly. "I told you I'd have something good to give Naruto, even if I'm technically not the one giving it to him."

As the two tiptoed through the halls, Yugana pulled out the gift that would be seen by her nephew in the morning. Her smile could only get bigger upon the sight of it. It wasn't only her own delight of the picture, but also the thoughts of how Naruto was going to react to it.

Anko's hand wrapped gingerly around the knob to Naruto's door, pushing the door open with a similar amount of care and cautiousness to ensure that he wouldn't wake up.

The two looked to one another before walking in, continuing their slow and careful movements to the side of Naruto's bed, specifically, a small nightstand just beside it.

Yugana looked at the picture in her hands one final time. The picture was one of Hana Inuzuka in a different outfit than normal. Rather than her normal medic wear, she wore a much more...revealing outfit, but it wasn't anything too much. After all, Naruto was still just a kid. Why Hana hadn't given the picture to Naruto, or why she had it taken in the first place, she did not know, but whatever reason she had, wouldn't be enough to justify Yugana taking it and giving it to Naruto while he slept.

"Wait, wait." Anko stopped her sister, her hand moving to block her so she could grab the picture.

Anko moved the picture to her face and kissed the corner of it, making sure the lipstick that she had applied would appear on the glass of the picture frame.

Anko and Yugana smiled to one another, their excitedness almost getting the better of them before they placed the picture down on the nightstand and left the room without a trace.

Naruto would be sure to have a few questions for Hana in the days to come.

Omake one: That technique

To say that Kakashi Hatake was in hot water with Anko would be one of the largest understatements to ever have been uttered.

A few days before, Kakashi had participated in a sparring match with Naruto, and displayed a specific technique that would surely place him somewhere within the Nth circle of hell.

Though the technique was performed on Naruto, the boy took the technique and began to experiment with it, combining explosive tags and a multitude of jutsu with it in order to maximize effectiveness.

How did Anko find out that Naruto was working on this technique?

She had the horrifically awkward honor or experiencing it first hand.

The only punishment given to Naruto was a ban on the technique, as he couldn't have known any better.

However, Kakashi, with not only one Sharingan eye, but two, should have seen a vengeful, high speed Anko from a mile away.

However, Anko did say that she would allow Naruto to use it on special cases or dire emergencies.

Omake two: The two new members

With the arrival of Karin and Tayuya, the two were quick to join the two largest fanbases in Konoha.

Karin joined the club dedicated to her cousin, supporting them and helping them grow with Uzumaki clan inside knowledge to prove how much better they were than the Uchiha clan.

It also helped that Tayuya reluctantly joined the other club to keep it from falling apart. Not only did they support Sasuke, but his clan as well. It was quite difficult to support a clan of murderers and traitors. Tayuya had to remind them that Sasuke was one of the good guys, and he was going to help his family rebuild the clan, possibly with the help of one of the members of the club. That got them to steel their resolve, but also to watch out for the other club members. Any one of them might try and steal Sasuke from right under their noses. Since Tayuya was the one now holding the club together, it was easy for her to overhear conversations and such, and relay them to Karin for her own uses, as per the orders of her cousin.

On Karin's side of things, she traded information for information, and sometimes Naruto's items. She would find a way to get her hands on Naruto's clothing or possessions, or sometimes create exact replicas and give them to the club members, but she would always get the information that she wanted.

It was a strange network to be sure, but Karin was already starting up well for herself in Konoha, and it would surely expand over time.

Omake three: Plans change...

No matter how hard they would work, no matter how far they would get, something always had to come up to shift the board. Many of the conspirators had been hoping for the Uchiha to take over Konoha, but it obviously didn't go that way. It would be much more difficult for their plans to continue normally now. They no longer had the Uchiha clan, and there wouldn't be enough to overpower the Uzumaki brat and his rag-tag family. The only option was to get some help from the outside...

Omake four: Anko's Cooking

Even before Naruto came into her life, Anko had always eaten out. Whether it be at a restaurant or a friend's house, Anko never cooked at home. There was a good reason for this too. Ibiki and Kurenai wouldn't let her near the kitchen when they cooked. While she could cook up a poison like a master, she could not cook up actual food.

Of course, nobody had actually seen her cooking recently.

In secret, Anko had been working on her skill at cooking. Her last cake had been considered passable by her own standards, considering that she was the only one who currently ate her food, but that was beside the point.

Eveny once and a while Anko would sneak her cooking results into Kurenai's food to see how others would react to it. Upset stomachs, nausea, and stomach cramps weren't positive results.

One day, Kurenai came back from a long day of walking about the village to discover a scent pulling her towards the kitchen.

In the living room, Anko was seated reading a normal book, surprisingly, with a smile on her face.

Kurenai looked to the kitchen, expecting to find Mebuki cooking something up. However, no one was there. The only other person in the house at the moment was Anko.

"Anko? Where is Mebuki?" Kurenai asked, her head popping into the living room. Her long, raven hair fell down to the ground with ease. A few strands had hit the floor, but even her bent over wasn't enough for her hair to pool at the ground.

Anko's eyes looked up from her book, her smile still on her face. "I sent her on a wild goose chase a few hours ago."

Kurenai's look twisted to one of confusion. "A few hours?" She questioned. Anko couldn't possibly have made the food. The oven was off, and the kitchen wasn't ash. "Then...Who is making food?"

Anko smiled widely. Her teeth could be seen from down the street if one squinted just right, but it gave Kurenai a bad feeling in her stomach. "Me of course!"

Kurenai gasped. How could Anko have made something that smelled so good? How could the kitchen not been a smoldering pile of ash, dust, and charcoal?

"I've been working on cakes. For Naruto's birthday." Her smile only increased with each word. It must have been hard to talk like that, but Anko seemed to be speaking just fine.

"Naruto's birthday." Kurenai echoed. "You mean the one in ten months?"

Anko's nod confirmed her thoughts. Kurenai couldn't really be mad though. If she was practicing this early, then she'd be a fantastic chef by October.

"Okay." Kurenai relented. "What else can you cook?"

Anko paused in her reading, the book in her hands lowered slowly into her lap. "What else...?" Was her slow reply.

Kurenai nodded. "Of course you haven't been spending all of this time baking just cakes, right?" She paused to let Anko answer, but Anko refused to answer her. "You've spent all of this time baking just cakes..."

Another moment passed, and neither of them spoke until Kurenai noticed something.

"Hey, wait. The Cake smells like it's cooking, but the oven isn't on at all..."

Anko smiled with a shake of her head. It took hardly any effort to push herself up from her seat to walk with her friend to the kitchen. "Silly Kurenai. I'm using the Microwave!"

It seemed like Kurenai hadn't anticipated her using the microwave. Her eyes looked down to the cook book, bulging out upon reading the cover. "Anko!"

The Microwave sounded off, alerting the two that the cake was done.

"Yes?" She was quick to answer, opening the door to the microwave and looking at the cake she had made. Her jaw unhinged, her brain unable to form any words for her mouth to say.

"You do know that this book is for cooking in the oven, right?"

Anko said nothing, her eyes glued to the gigantic block of cake that took up all of the available space within the science oven.

"I do now." she groaned.

Omake five: Twelve days of the Winter Festival

For the first day of the Winter Festival, Naruto received a torture kit complete with poisons from Anko, which of course angered both Tsunade and Kurenai, made Mikoto worried, and made Jiriaya gulp in fear when Naruto had immediately snapped his head towards, and grinned maliciously, at the old pervert, fortunately for Naruto, the only one who noticed the grin was Anko, who couldn't have been prouder of her son's possible malicious streak when he chose a target for it. When Tsunade had tried to take away the torture kit, Naruto had 'pulled an Anko' by dropping some stink and smoke bombs, causing everyone to gag as he quite literally disappeared deeper into the house to hide the kit, as far as Naruto was concerned, it was totally worth the beating he would receive later that night under the premise of 'training in pain tolerance'.

For the second day of the Winter Festival, Anko had received a book of coupons for a five year guarantee for an unlimited supply of Dango one day of each month for the next five years from Naruto. When asked, Naruto had admitted that he had had to use some...'persuasive negations'...to get the restaurant to agree to the offer, in exchange for some unspecified favors. When pressed on what the favors were, Naruto merely looked at Kurenai, Tsunade, Anko, and Yugana, and had to wince, but refused to say WHAT he had done, no matter how much Anko glared at her son due to her suspicions about some of her missing clothing...

On the third day of the Winter Festival, Yugana had received a special stealth suit that, while appreciated, had her eye twitching. It had been from Yugao. Needless to say, the suit made her look like a cat with cat ears and the like, Yugao had explained that she had...picked it up...in a store that sold stealth attire, but Yugana had her suspicions it sold other stuff and not purely stealth gear. Never the less, she would admit, if only to herself, that it would make some of her missions much easier to complete.

On the fourth day of the Winter Festival, Tsunade and Shizune had received a booklet for free massages performed by young masseuses who utilized chakra to help muscles relax more, from Anko, Yugana, Kurenai, and Naruto. Needless to say, it was the ONLY time, that Anko could say she would ever see Tsunade with a nosebleed, and planned to never let the granddaughter of the First Hokage forget it.

On the fifth day, Kurenai received a book full of copies of Uzumaki genjutsu. Needless to say, Kurenai had scooped up both Anko and Naruto in a big hug, with these, she would be even more deadly in combat, and her infamy as Konoha's Genjutsu Mistress would only climb to new heights.

On the sixth day, Ibiki received a booklet containing many Uzumaki torture techniques, along with a few torture specific seals from Anko. Needless to say, he had finally been brought to tears, if there was one thing Ibiki loved, it was being a master of interrogation, and while he loved his methods, he wouldn't mind some new ones to make things more interesting.

On the seventh day, Karin received a book on spying, information gathering, and forming an information network from Yugana and Anko. Kurenai had frowned at the gift, but had shrugged off the bad feeling she had felt as it being Anko and her idea of 'gifts'. Tsunade had been curious about why Karin would be gifted with such a book till she realized that Karin must be one of those kunoichi born to gather information.

On the eighth day, Tayuya had received a number of scrolls on Uzumaki genjutsu just like Kurenai had, as well as a flute. She had looked at Naruto when she opened its package, as she had only mentioned to Naruto, that she had a love of flute music.

On the ninth day, shit absolutely hit the fan when Anko and Yugana had delivered a rather special present to Naruto from Hana, without either of them knowing about the delivery. Naruto had come to Hana with questions about it, which made the girl blush, and her mother look at her with confusion. Naruto was not the only one with questions about the picture in question.

On the tenth day, Anko had received a cooking book from an unknown sender. It must have been Kurenai, who was the only one who was aware of her cooking, but it could not be confirmed. However, Anko knew that it was Kurenai who had given it to her, underlining the cover where it said that the cook book was for cooking in an oven.

On the eleventh day, Naruto and Kiba gave each other the gifts of holiday themed pranks, involving throwing one another down chimneys, launching snowballs at one another, hiding in the snow and scaring the other, pouring cold water on one's head, and other similar pranks.

On the twelfth day The Uzumaki and Inuzuka clans gathered together once more for the holidays, setting up some humorous fun from the adults in the clans. Naruto had asked Hana about something, thankfully not the picture, and Hana had replied truthfully. It was her opinion on something, and Naruto took it to heart. Meanwhile, Anko twirled a Kunai between her fingers, a small plant being strung around the ring on the other end. While neither of them were looking, Anko threw the Kunai just above them, allowing the mistletoe to dangle overhead. With neither of them noticing, Anko, Tsume, and Yugana took it into their own hands, springing at the children from both sides so they'd collide into one another and possibly kiss. However, things did not go as planned. Hana's face had missed Naruto's completely, the boy's head colliding with her chest to make her a blushing and stuttering mess while the adults all laughed.

Omake Six: Kurenai makes a (grave) mistake

Before Anko had adopted him, Naruto had a surprisingly low sugar consumption. Not only was it that he wasn't allowed to purchase any sweets anywhere, but he did not have enough money back then to buy any.

A yellow and black form bounced off of the walls like a rubber bullet around a cowering Kurenai. Anko had walked in only moments after it had all happened due to the noise. Anko cursed herself for not confiding her suspicions of Naruto and sugar, as she knew this would be an eventuality.

"I should have told you..." Anko grumbled to herself. "I should have told everyone. This was bound to happen as some point, and I knew that this was how he was going to react!"

Suddenly the form ran up to them and began talking high pitched as it took the form of a twitching and shaking Naruto when it stopped. "HeyIwatogoonadture!" It sounded roughly as if he wanted to go on an adventure, but neither of the women could have completely figured it out. Naruto spoke so fast that you could barely understand him, his pupils randomly dilating at he twitched from what one would assume to be a super sugar high.

Kurenai cowered before Anko, "I only gave him a bag of lychee candy, I didn't know he could do this!"

Before either of the two could react, Naruto suddenly took off for the door leaving a sonic boom that knocked Anko on her ass as he took off, they could only watch in horror as the entered the village, promptly followed by several screams as Naruto accidentally sent people flying into the air as he ran through them, or more accuratly, he knocked them into the air as he ran under them causing them to fall back down in a heap of confusion as to what just hit them.

By the end of the day, Naruto had pulled no less then two hundred pranks in four hours and caused people to wonder if the Uzumaki heir had learned the Flying Thunder God techinque. Needless to say, Tsunade had groaned with how many complaints she got that day about the Yellow Blur of Konoha. It was also unanimously agreed amongst the Uzumaki clan, that all sweets to enter the compound were to be under an industrial lock and key and to make sure Naruto was monitored around sugar and sweets.

**Happy hollidays from Pyro Productions! Even though it can't be considered a production company due to multiple laws and the fact there's only two of us, but we do hope that you enjoy the longest chapter yet, as well as the mandatory christmas special! **

**Actually, we've hit a few birds with one stone in this chapter, and we cna't wait to hear what you all think of it. Can't wait to see you all next time, and remember.**

**Stay Classy, San Diego!**


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